Living in the Past: Book 2 - The Paths We Choose
by Lezg33k
Summary: After saving Xena, Gabrielle and Eve from an untimely end Sarah (The great niece of Janice Covington and Mel Papas) must travel to Amazon country, where she get's into a whole different kind of trouble. Meanwhile Eve must deal with some difficult romantic feelings she's been harboring for a certain dark haired Amazon. Will Xena and Gabrielle make it back in time to save the entire
1. Chapter 1

Copyright Disclaimer: Any and all characters referenced from the Xenaverse belong to Renaissance Pictures and their respective parties. I don't own the characters otherwise we'd already have a movie and the series would have never ended the way it did. All superfluous characters belong to me.

Sex, Violence, Language Warning: They will all be present and they will probably be graphic. In specific reference to the sex portion of the warning I will say that any descriptive sexual text will be centered on that of the lesbian variety. If you like it, great. If you don't, I don't want to hear about it.

Spoiler Warning: Post 'Friend in Need'.

Feedback: Seriously, I live on it. If you like this story even a little bit please drop me a line saying so. All constructive criticisms would also be appreciated.

Author's Notes: This is the second book in my Living in the Past Series. If you haven't read book 1 you're gonna be a bit lost, so you might as well go check that one out as well. ;) But if you really just can't be asked, there will be a brief synopsis going on in the beginning of this story that I hope will get you up to par. This is where the story is gonna start to take off a little from being Xenacentric and move more toward the Sarahcentric spin-off I've been obsessing about. So grab yourself a cozy chair and a warm or frosty beverage and relax. The fun's about to begin.

Book 2: The Paths We Choose

By LezG33k

Chapter 1

Things That Go Bump in the Night

_Sarah's Journal-First entry_

_Dear Aunt Janice,_

_I can only imagine it's mid February and possibly between the years of 28-34 AD? It's hard to tell, but I'm doing the best I can to keep the days straight. Where do I even begin? I guess I'll have to start where you left off, huh? After you talked me into going back into the past using the chronostone I ended up right in Evil Xena's path. Seriously, I puked in front of her. It was great. I managed to talk her into not slaughtering the village and taught an entire Japanese bar how to make a Sake Bomb. So make sure to tell Jake that the world can thank me for that little addition to bar etiquette. Anyway she went off on her own journey and I continued on with mine to find that Xena was STILL insisting Gabrielle allow her to remain dead. Apparently the broody warrior princess was tired of making Gabrielle pay to wipe away the stains of her past. _

_So, of course I stepped in and called bullshit. They were both mad at me for a couple of hours, but they got over it when they decided focusing on saving Eve was more important than holding grudges. Hell, it didn't even take them a week to get back in the sack with each other, so they couldn't have been too mad. Anyway we got to Chin in time to save Eve and then everything got kinda… well, crazy._

_You see the guy, Liu Xiu, that was supposed to lead the resistance and overthrow the Emperor, was about to be slaughtered in a gladiator fight. And you know me, I wasn't about to let that happen so I jumped into the fight and saved his life from this crazy Slavic chick, Rada. She tried to kill me later then became one of my best friends here, but I'll get to that in just a bit. Anyway, after I saved him Xena sent me to my room for misbehaving and Eve did this freaky voodoo shit on me while I was taking a bath. Apparently she's got some wicked supernatural powers; the only problem is she has no idea how to use them. _

_After the bathroom incident we went to bed and Rada, under orders from the Emperor's son, came to murder us. And luckily she failed because the magic Eve worked in the bathroom (eww, that sounded way different in my head) made me impervious to mortal wounds! Can you believe that? I'm freaking immortal! It's cool as shit too. I've probably been stabbed like a hundred times already and I'm still good to go. _

_So after securing Rada, I decided I wanted to go see Liu and figure out what his plan was to overthrow the emperor. The funny thing is he didn't have one. He'd planned on killing himself before I came along to give him a little pep talk about saving China._

_I don't like to think about what this implies too much because if I do I get a headache and start wondering about the consistency of time and space. And you know me. I'm not bright enough to figure that stuff out. So I just stick to what I know and that consists of causing trouble apparently._

_Xena found out about my little visit and insisted we leave as soon as possible. Of course the Emperor's men tried to kill us, but we made it to the docks and my dumbass decided to stay behind with Rada. I wanted to help save the innocent people and Rada wanted to go kill the Emperor's son. What we didn't expect was for Eve to jump ship and follow us, which meant Xena and Gabrielle came along as well._

_And that's where I got myself in the predicament I'm in right now. You see, the chronostone is kinda… destroyed. During all the fighting a lot of stuff happened. Eve blew up the stone, I got in a fight with a Tiger, Xena nearly crippled herself. It was a big mess. Everyone is fine now, but I have no way to get home until I find some alternative means of time travel. We're pretty much riding on a theory right now. Eve and I are probably a day's sail away from reaching Greece and the Amazon village. What I'm hoping is that the chronostone they hid for Xena is still around. I don't know how all this time/space/matter stuff works but it's the best bet I'm riding on right now._

_My hope is that we'll find it and I'll be able to tell you all of this in person. But I also have to be realistic and realize that that may not happen. That's what this journal is for, maybe someone will find it and bring it to you and you'll at least know what happened to me._

_But screw the sad thoughts for right now. I've got a plan and I'm gonna see it through. I love and miss you so much. I hope you're taking care of yourself._

_Me…Well…You know me._

_All my love,_

_Sarah_

She closed the leather bound journal she'd brought a long with her and stowed it in her bag before adjusting her fedora so it kept the sun out of her eyes. She was topside and the sea air was amazing. Taking a short nap under the sun seemed like a wonderful idea.

Of course Eve had other plans.

"Hey, are you sleeping?" She asked, sitting next to Sarah.

"Wow, that's incredibly perceptive of you." She said from underneath the hat.

"It's a beautiful day, Sarah, you shouldn't be sleeping." Eve said. "Hey, do you want to spar?"

Sarah had talked Eve into teaching her how to fight by the second day they'd been on the boat and every day since she'd been getting better and better at making it through the fight. She also couldn't help but notice how much Eve enjoyed herself through their little bouts. Sarah could only imagine that Eve was such an amazing warrior back in her warlord days because the girl simply relished the fight. It was a quid pro quo relationship; Sarah learned how to better protect herself from taking a beating and Eve got to work out her not so peaceful tendencies.

"You busted my ass pretty good yesterday, Eve. I think I'll sit out today." Sarah said.

"Oh come on." She said standing up. "You're immortal, it's not like a bruised ass is gonna kill you."

She extended her hand and with a grunt the time traveler accepted it. She tossed her hat on the ground with the rest of her stuff, and then grabbed her baseball bat.

"You know one of these days I'm gonna win." She said, taking a defensive stance.

"Of course you will." Eve countered, grabbing a staff. "You've got my blood running through your veins. That has to count for something."

"She's been hanging around me way too much." Sarah said to herself before dashing into the fray.

When they landed at the docks Sarah was completely elated. She didn't hate sailing by any means, but it was hard to be so confined for so long. It made her glad she never went to prison. Eve was obviously happy to be off the boat as well, her face was nearly electric in its glow. It was nearing late evening and they knew that travelling to the Amazon village at night was probably not the best idea, so the girls decided to try to find an inn with a room to rent for the night, and more importantly a bar.

After asking a few villagers they were pointed in the right direction and found themselves at a somewhat decent establishment in the middle of town. After securing their room and dropping off their things they headed downstairs for a much needed meal and some port.

"So how do you feel about going to visit the Amazons again?" Sarah asked after finishing the last bite of pita bread. "Last I read you'd made some peace with them, but I didn't get the impression that they're your biggest fan."

Eve took a sip of water and answered casually. "I'm fine. I think they've all settled on putting up with me, so there shouldn't be any problems."

"Even with Varia?" Sarah asked, taking a pull from her bottle.

"I think she's forgiven me as much as she could for killing her sister." Eve said solemnly.

Sarah cursed herself under her breath. "Sorry Eve, I didn't mean to bring up any bad memories; I was just trying to get a feel for what we'd be walking into."

"No, it's ok Sarah." She said, thankful for the understanding on the girl's part. "I have a terrible past. I'd have to face it almost anywhere. It's just a little more difficult with Varia for some reason. She's a good person that has suffered greatly because of me. I'd do anything to take that back, possibly above anything else I've ever done."

"That's saying a lot." Sarah noted. "You must hold a lot of affection toward her."

"Well yeah, I mean…" Eve suddenly became visibly nervous. "You know not more than anyone else or anything."

"Uh huh." Sarah said. She decided to table the subject for now, but couldn't wait to see the way the two interacted with each other. It sure seemed like Eve might have a little more invested in the Amazon Queen than she was ready to admit.

They sat there in comfortable conversation for a few more minutes before Sarah headed over the bar to order another drink.

"I'll have another one of these when you get a second." Sarah said to the bartender after making eye contact with him.

While she waited she looked around the bar and her attention was drawn to a beautiful woman at the end of the bar. She was tall with shoulder length dark hair and incredible light blue eyes. They were the kind of eyes that asked, not demanded, to be noticed. And it would have been hard not to notice them anyway because they were staring at her. Sarah smiled, more to herself than anything and tipped her hat to the patron. Her actions were returned with a wine glass being raised by delicate fingers. She was pulled from the exchange by her drink being delivered, and she responded with a couple of coins to the bartender. By the time she looked back at the woman a somewhat burly man was leaning into her and slurring some kind of attempt at a pick up line.

Sarah decided to stick around the bar for a few more minutes to see how the scene would play out. She took in the woman's appearance and the leather pants and boots led her to believe that she could probably take care of herself, but sometimes looks can be deceiving.

The man was starting to move more and more into the woman's personal space and it was becoming obvious that this wasn't a welcome advance. Sarah moved in closer and could hear a not so soft rebuke coming from the woman.

"Look, I said I wasn't interested." She said, sternly.

"Ah come on, beautiful." He slurred. "I've been out to sea a long time and believe me I've been saving up my strength to treat a lady like you real nice."

"And I'm sure you can find someone else to exert your affections on." She said pushing him away.

"I don't think you know what you're saying." He said moving back in even closer.

"Actually I think she's coming through loud and clear." Sarah said, intruding in upon the conversation. "I think it's time for you to move along, pal."

She'd always wanted to say something like that in a bar. It made her feel like a cowboy.

"This is a private conversation, girl. You'd be smart to leave us alone." He fired back at her and turned back to his prey.

"No, I think I'll be staying and you'll be going." She said, with a self assurance she didn't really feel. "Now, I'm gonna ask you one more time to leave the lady alone."

"And then what?" He said, grabbing her by the front of her shirt and drawing the crowd's attention. "What's a little thing like you gonna do about it?"

"This." She said, pounding her knee straight into his crotch then punching him in the side of the face.

He stood up as fast as a man that just took a shot to the nuts could and swung at her, missing with his right fist, but connecting with the left. Sarah stumbled for a bit, but regained her equilibrium enough to take a defensive stance and block a couple more blows. That is, before he barreled toward her and sent them both flying into a table, breaking it in the process. She swung her fists rapidly at his head while she was down, knowing it was her only chance to get him off of her when the sound of broken glass could be heard coming from behind him and port sprayed her face. They both looked to see what had just happened and saw the mysterious lady standing there with a broken bottle in her hand.

"You bitch." He said, barreling toward her.

Sarah got up quickly and tackled him just before he reached her. She then hopped back to her feet and enacted a harsh assault on his gut with her right boot. Somewhere near the fifth kick she was pulled away by Eve and the man just lay there clutching himself.

"I think he's down." The messenger said. "Ease up, Sarah."

They watched as the bartender chastised the down man and ordered two of his hands to kick him out onto the street.

"Byron that's the last time you drink in my inn and cause a fight!" He screamed out the door, and then looked to Sarah. "And you, young lady, you try any of that stuff again and you'll be sleeping on the street as well, you hear?"

"Yes sir." She said as Eve let her go. She felt the corner of her mouth where the man punched her and her fingers came back wet and red.

"Nice." She said with a smirk.

"Are you happy about the fact that you're bleeding?" Eve asked incredulously.

"I just got a bloody lip in a bar fight that started because I was defending some woman's honor. I feel cool as hell right now." Sarah answered as Eve sighed and rolled her eyes before grabbing a napkin and tending to Sarah's lip.

"Sit down and let me look at you." She said, and the girl obeyed.

"Excuse me." Someone said as Eve administered to her.

Sarah looked over to see the very woman whose honor she'd defended. She quickly grabbed the napkin from Eve and shoed the messenger away.

"Hi." She said, standing up and forgetting about the napkin.

"I wanted to thank you, for what you did over there." She said. "But I don't even know your name."

"Um, Sarah." She said, offering her hand.

"My name is Khepri, and I am very grateful for what you did in my defense." She said, grasping the girl's forearm.

Sarah couldn't help but notice that Khepri had a sort of magnetic pull when she spoke. She held her attention with her eyes and she made her feel like she was the only person in the room. So much so that she soon realized that they'd been stuck in the greeting for far longer than was normal.

"It um…" Sarah stuttered. "It was no big deal. I'm happy I was there to help." She instantly missed the contact as soon as their hands retreated from each other.

It was then that Eve noticeably cleared her throat and Sarah realized she was being rude.

"Sorry, this is Eve." She said, introducing her.

"Nice to meet you, Eve." Khepri said. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to interrupt anything."

Her tone was partly embarrassed and partly questioning.

"Oh no!" Sarah said a little overenthusiastically. "No, you didn't interrupt anything at all. There's totally nothing to interrupt."

"Easy there, stud." Eve said quietly to Sarah.

"Well then, do you think that maybe I could buy you a drink and join you for the rest of the evening?" Khepri asked.

"Sure, that sounds great!" Sarah answered quickly.

"Great, I'll be right back." She said and left to go to the bar.

"She's pretty cool, huh?" Sarah said as they sat down, her eyes not leaving Khepri's retreating form and lingering slightly on a specific part of said form.

"Uh huh." Eve said, knowingly, causing Sarah to look back at her defensively.

"What?" She asked, knowing exactly what Eve was thinking.

"You like her." Eve answered.

"Well yeah, she seems nice." Sarah defended.

"And nice to look at." Eve countered.

"Is there something wrong with that?" Sarah asked.

"Just be careful." Eve said with concern. "She's a lone woman in a bar, and judging by her clothing I'd say she looks a little more like a warrior than a simple village girl."

"Um, if you hadn't noticed we're not exactly simple village girls either." Sarah said.

"Yeah, but we're not alone." Eve countered. "She's either incredibly naïve or she knows she can take care of herself."

"What's so wrong with that?" Sarah said. "Honestly it's part of the appeal."

"All I'm saying is keep your eyes…" She pulled Sarah's eyes off the girl and made her look at her own. "…Open."

Sarah rolled her eyes, but kept her attention on Eve. "What's she gonna do, kill me?"

"Here we go." Khepri said as she seated herself at the table.

"Thank you!" Sarah said, raising her mug and clinking it against Khepri's wine glass. "So Khepri, tell us a little bit about yourself."

She kicked Eve under the table as if to say 'See, I'm playing it smart.' Eve just looked at her and sighed then turned her attention toward the stranger.

"Well, let's see…" Khepri said, looking at the table as if the answers would be there then looking back up. "I was born and raised just outside of town, haven't ever really been anywhere else, my parents are dead so it's up to me and my brother to keep the family together and take care of our affairs… pretty boring stuff really." She took sip. "How 'bout you two?"

"Umm. Well… Eve, you wanna start?" Sarah asked, realizing she was going to have to lie.

"Why not, because my story's so easy to tell." She said. "I was born Livia of Rome."

"Livia?" Khepri looked at her with shock.

"And you've heard of me." Eve said, nodding her head.

"But she's like totally good now." Sarah said. "She won't fight or anything. Completely non-violent."

Khepri still sat in awe. "Uh huh. So what changed?"

"My mother, Xena, helped me find my true path. Now I am Eve; I spread the message of Eli and promote peace all around the world." Eve was still looking down at her cup. It was obvious that her past still hurt her greatly and Sarah suddenly felt terrible for all the times she'd given the messenger a hard time.

"Eve is one of the most loving and generous people you could ever meet." Sarah said and Eve's eyes rose to meet hers. "She also has more patience than anyone I've ever met. She doesn't allow herself to be mean to people, even when they are total assholes to her."

Eve smiled.

"What's an asshole?" Khepri asked.

"Someone unpleasant." Eve answered for Sarah.

"That's an incredible story." Khepri said, and then turned to Sarah. "What about you, Sarah? Do you have some deep, dark past? I know you're at least from a distant land, I've never seen someone dress or talk the way you do before."

"I'm kinda from all over. Mom died in childbirth, Dad was nowhere to be found. So, you could say with all the places I've been I've just lived in my own world for the most part."

_And that's the closest to the truth that I could possibly get. _Sarah thought.

"How'd you meet Eve?" Khepri asked.

"Well um… I got interested in possible family ties and started researching it. Seems somewhere down the line Eve and I are related, so I tried to find her and I did." Sarah said, still amazed at her ability to stretch the truth.

"And she saved my life." Eve said.

"Really?" Khepri asked.

"Yes several times, actually. The most recent was in a cave where she fought a tiger." Eve said.

"A tiger? You're kidding!" Khepri said. There was definitely shock on her face, but there was something else Sarah couldn't place lurking behind her features as well.

"It really wasn't a big deal." Sarah said, finishing off her drink. "It was just my lucky day."

"And she's modest." Khepri said.

_No, I'm immortal. _Sarah thought as she smiled and stood up.

"I'm gonna grab another, can I get you one?" She asked Khepri, who refused. "Eve?"

"I'll have another glass of water, thanks." The messenger answered.

Left alone at the table, Eve and Khepri struggled to find something to talk about. Eve decided to go in for the kill.

"So, I hope you don't mind me asking, but are you a warrior of some sort? Your manner of dress would suggest so." She said.

Khepri looked at her as if she was not happy with the question, but managed to keep a smile on her face.

"The roads are not the safest place for a woman to travel, especially a woman carrying goods to trade. I sometimes find that looking tough helps me avoid violence I might otherwise have to face." She said.

"And if you can't avoid it?" Eve asked.

Khepri let out small chuckle and answered. "Let's just say I'm pretty good at taking care of myself."

She looked down at her boots and Eve noticed two sizeable knives on the side of each calf.

"I see." Eve said.

She was feeling even worse about the prospect of this woman continuing to share the table with them. Luckily Sarah returned with the drinks before she had a chance to receive any more unpleasant answers.

"So what were we talking about?" Sarah asked as she took her seat.

"Nothing important." Khepri answered quickly, before Eve had the chance. "I'd like to know more about you." She said as her eyes bore into Sarah's.

The girl swallowed hard. This was gonna require a lot more port.

"Black velvet and that little boy smile

Black velvet and that slow southern style

It's a new religion that'll bring ya to your knees

Black velvet if you please."*

Sarah belted on the bards stage and the patrons roared with laughter and applause. She'd been supplementing her confidence with port and decided it was time for some improvised Karaoke. Two of the patrons helped her off the stage and she fell back into her seat, just a little out of breath. Someone else was heading up to sing right after her, and she was sure a trend was in the works.

"Explain to me again why you had to do that?" Eve asked.

"Eve," Sarah said in that oh so familiar 'drunk explaining something' way. "It's just what you do in a bar with a stage. You get up there and you sing Black Velvet. It's like required in bar rules or some shit. I'm pretty sure no one has ever done that in this bar, so I took it upon myself to break her in."

"Well I thought it was charming." Khepri said.

"See." Sarah said taking another sip.

"Charming in a drunk, semi-obnoxious, but ultimately cute kind of way." Khepri amended with a mischievous smirk.

Eve laughed and so did Sarah.

"Oh, I see how it is. See if I ever sing you a song." Sarah fired back. She wouldn't dare admit it, but she loved being picked on by attractive women. She sometimes wondered if that spoke to the playground mentality of her maturity, but didn't worry about it too much.

"I think you would." Khepri said, taking a sip of her drink.

"Oh really?" Sarah said, defiantly.

"I can be very persuasive." Khepri, eyes bore into hers on that one.

Sarah's face became flushed and the alcohol wasn't helping her battle that glare at all.

"Um…" She said with a smirk and stood. "You know I think I need to go hit the head, or the outhouse or whatever the hell that thing is." She said as she walked away.

"You know I think I'll go with her." Khepri said as she followed Sarah's exiting form.

Sarah stumbled out the door and tried to find the privy on the exterior of the inn.

_She's totally hitting on me. What the fuck am I supposed to do with some hot ancient Greek girl that's hitting on me? _As she went over this in her thought process, she felt a hand grab her wrist and turn her around.

"Hey." A familiar voice said and Sarah looked up to see the very eyes she was trying to retreat from.

"Hey." She said with a smile. "Did you um… need to go first?"

Khepri smiled and shook her head. "No, I just wanted to make sure you were ok. It's a little more dangerous outside the inn." She took a step forward and spoke again. "And I think you are running away from me."

"Running away from you?" Sarah laughed and took a step back. "Me? Are you kidding? I take on fucking tigers, why would I be afraid of you?"

"Well, I don't know," she took another step closer and Sarah took another step back.

"Maybe because I think you like me." Another step forward, another step back.

"And because you think I might like you." Another step.

"And because I could probably hurt you in ways a Tiger can't." Khepri took another step forward, but Sarah's back was now against a tree. She was trapped and wondering if the 'hurt' the woman was talking about was emotional or otherwise.

She knew one thing at this moment. The look in Khepri's eyes was predatory; she didn't know if she was out for blood or lust, but either way it was doing things to her body that she was sure needed to be addressed in therapy.

Khepri put one hand on the tree behind Sarah, and the other on the side of the girl's face as she leaned in slowly. Sarah's breathing was completely erratic as she anticipated the kiss. Her eyes went back and forth between Khepri's mouth and eyes.

"Sarah?"

They heard Eve calling her name just before the kiss was sealed and their eyes locked.

"Jesus Christ." Sarah said dropping her head back against the tree. "I'm right here." She yelled.

"You didn't have to tell her, you know." Khepri said. Her voice held a tinge of regret and a hint of annoyance with the messenger.

"I know. But it might be better this way." Sarah said with a soft smile. "I wasn't drunk when I took on the Tiger." She referenced the woman's prior remarks.

This forced a smile from Khepri and they both walked toward the one who'd ruined all the fun.

"What's up Eve?" Sarah asked.

"I'm getting pretty tired." She said, wondering what she'd just walked into.

"Yeah, I guess it is about time we turned in." Sarah said. "We've got a big day tomorrow."

"Where are you headed?" Khepri asked.

"We have to travel to the Amazon village tomorrow." Eve said.

Khepri looked at them with surprise. "Really, wow, are you both Amazon's as well as travelers?"

"Well I guess you could say I was born into the tribe, but this will be Sarah's first visit." Eve said.

"Maybe I'll come look you up there then." Khepri said. "How long do you plan on staying on?"

"Not sure." Sarah said. "But I'd like to see you again if you wanted to come by. Just remember that they're kind of protective of their lands. Do you know the Amazon stance of peace?"

"Yeah, I've seen it a couple of times." Khepri answered.

"Great." Eve said. "I guess this is goodnight then."

"Yeah, sadly, I guess so." Khepri said looking at Sarah. "I had a wonderful time getting to know you."

"Me too." Sarah said, putting her hand out.

Khepri accepted the appendage, and then brought it up to her lips for a kiss that was ever so soft.

"Until next time." She said, releasing the hand. "Goodbye Eve."

"Goodbye." The messenger said, knowing she was not the woman's favorite person at that moment.

As Khepri headed back inside, Eve just looked at Sarah.

"Not one word, Eve." Sarah said as she cursed and made her way over to relieve herself. It was gonna be a long night.

Khepri entered the cave and found her brother, Asteri, behind the curtain of his personal cavern. He was sitting in a chair and talking to one of his favorite girls at his feet, but looked up upon her entrance.

"Sister. You had a good night out on the town, I trust?" He asked.

"Leave us." She said to the woman on the floor, who complied immediately.

He rolled his eyes, and replied. "So I take it you didn't have such a good time?"

"No, it was fine." She said, pouring herself a glass of the dark red liquid he had sitting in a decanter on a small table.

"Couldn't have been that 'fine'. It looks like you didn't feed." He said.

She ignored his observation.

"I'm probably going to be gone for a few days." She said, taking a sip.

"Well that's not cryptic at all." He gently tossed his long, dark, wavy hair out of his face. "Care to let me in on your plans?"

"I may have found a way to get rid of our little Amazon problem." She said.

Asteri laughed. "Oh sister, I'd forgotten how impatient you are. The Amazon's will be taken care of in time if we continue to catch them in the woods at night. Why push the progress? Are you becoming bored with our life in the cave?"

"No." She said defensively. "I just think it might be a little fun to raise the stakes a bit. There was a girl that I met tonight; she's headed into the village." She paused thoughtfully then spoke again. "She was able to resist my thrall."

"Oh… I see." He said, moving over to pour himself a glass. "A challenge. I'm happy to see you taking an interest in something other than simple road brigands. Take as much time as you need, but be sure to stay in contact. I'd at least like to be clued into your plans as they progress."

He offered his glass for a toast. "To your new conquest."

"May it be just as sweet as I imagine." She said as the glasses clinked together and she drew the blood into her mouth.

_So very sweet. _She thought before taking the glass and heading to her own cavern.

To be continued…

*Black Velvet obviously doesn't belong to me. It belongs to Allanah Miles and Atlantic Records.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

The Cock Block and the Wingman

"I need to explain a little something to you Eve." Sarah said as she adjusted her pack on her shoulder while they walked through the Amazon woods. "It's a sacred trust between friends and breaking it denotes a great lack of respect for the offended party."

"What is it?" Eve asked, worried she'd somehow committed this atrocity.

"I'm sure there are more technical and PC terms for it, but me and my buddies back home used to call it the 'cock block'." Sarah explained.

"Cock block." Eve repeated.

"Right." Sarah continued. "You see a 'cock block' is an individual who impedes her buddy's progress with the object of their affection. Last night I might have very well shared a bed with that nice lady that I didn't know, but you impeded that process. That makes you a cock block."

Eve simply rolled her eyes, but Sarah continued.

"Though the terminology is a bit misogynistic in nature I've always thought the interchanging of the word cunt for cock to be a little over the top feministic. The point is you never want to be a cock block. You want to be a wingman."

"Right, and what's a 'wingman'?" She asked, indulging her friend.

"Ah a wingman is a friend who actually helps you seal the deal. There are a variety of efforts that can be considered wingmanesque, but we won't get ahead of ourselves with the more complicated aspects of best bud bar etiquette. All you need to understand is that what happened last night need not be repeated unless you want to suffer ungodly amounts of karmic misfortune in the getting laid department." She said, with a clap to the messengers shoulder.

Eve looked up at her and smiled.

"You do realize that when you get like this I only understand every other word you say, right?" She asked.

"Yep, that's why I made you some notes." Sarah said as she rummaged inside her jacket for a piece of paper and handed it to her friend.

As Eve perused the notes she laughed to herself about the contents. It even had pictorial examples.

"You know, even had I known about this whole cock block/wingman business, I still would have stopped you from sleeping with that woman. She seemed dangerous; I got a bad vibe off of her." Eve said.

"Yes, but I'm immortal and even if she did try to kill me I'd come out on top… possibly in more ways than one." Sarah said with a smirk.

"You really are incorrigible, you know that!" Eve softly slapped her on the shoulder. "And if you are truly being honest your view of women is absolutely appalling. Is that all they are to you? A conquest?"

"No, of course not. " Sarah said defensively. "Look I'm not trying to pull a Shane here and leave a slew of broken hearts all over the West Hollywood of ancient Greece, but if by some miracle I get hit on by some tall, dark and mysterious chick I'd like at least the chance to get to know her better in private. Is that so much to ask?"

"Again, with the not understanding you." Eve said. "Can you please at least try not to make references to things that don't even exist yet?"

"Alright, alright." Sarah caved, and moved to face Eve and place her hands on her shoulders. "All I'm saying is that I'm a big girl and I can take care of myself, especially with that whole immortal thing going on. So I'd appreciate it if next time we're in a bar, you give me some breathing room with possible romantic encounters. Are we cool?"

Eve exhaled a sigh of submission.

"We're cool." She said with a shake of her head and a small smile before Sarah smiled back and they started walking again.

"Were you really going to sleep with her?" Eve asked.

Sarah smiled softly then shook her head. "No, probably not."

"Why not?" Eve asked.

"Because it's very likely that I'll never see her again, and I'm not really into the whole one night stand thing." She said.

"Then why this ridiculous wingman speech?" She asked.

Sarah sighed and looked up at the afternoon sky. "Because she really looked like she'd be a great kisser."

Eve chuckled.

They walked for a few more minutes in silence when a thought occurred to Sarah.

"What are your rules about sex?" She asked. "Being that you're like an instrument of God and everything."

"What do you mean?" Eve asked. "I don't live under any sexual restrictions, why would the God of Eli ask that of me?"

"Because it's a part of nearly every major religion in the modern world." Sarah said.

"Well it's not a part of Eli's plan, I can tell you that." Eve said. "Love is the truest path one can follow. How can an intimate expression of romantic love be wrong?"

"Hey, I'm just playing devil's advocate here." Sarah raised her hands and paused for a bit before asking her next question. "So…how long has it been for ya?"

Eve dropped her jaw and looked at Sarah. "Please tell me that you didn't just ask about my sex life."

"Hey, we're pals now right." Sarah said in mild defense. "This is what girls do they talk about sex all the time."

"Well I certainly don't." Eve said. "Some things are just private."

"Fine." Sarah said, looking at the ground before mumbling "Rada would have told me."

"Oh Rada would have told you!" Eve threw up her hands. "Please ask the question again so I can attempt to be more like the Slavic wonder."

"Hey, easy there cowgirl. That's one of my friends you're talking about." Sarah said with a smirk.

"Well, I'm still not discussing my past sexual experiences." She said.

"Fine." Sarah said. "We'll discuss possible future interludes. You got your eye on anyone?"

Again the messenger's mouth dropped, but this time she smiled.

"I'm not talking to you about that either." She said. "Boy, you're intrusive."

"Oh, come on Eve. You're my only means of entertainment right now. At least give me a little something to think about other than the fact that I'm starting to wear a bunion on my right toe."

Eve crossed her arms for a few seconds, and then gave in.

"Alright. "She said. "There is someone that I have feelings for, but… It just wouldn't work out."

"Why?" Sarah asked.

"Because I've caused them a great deal of pain. I can't imagine them ever wanting to be with me like that." She said.

"Oh great, we're playing the pronoun game." Sarah said. "You do know you can tell me if it's a her, right?"

"Maybe I don't want to tell you too much about them because I don't want you to figure out who it is." The messenger said.

"Oooo. That's even better." Sarah said. "We could make a game out of it to pass the time."

"What?" Eve asked.

"Hey, I'm asking the questions here." Sarah said, as she thought. "Ok, let's see. Well the first one's obvious, but I'll go ahead and ask anyway. Is the object of your affection a woman?"

"Can we please talk about something else?" Eve asked.

"It's either this or your past romps in the sack, you decide." Sarah said.

Eve sighed in resignation. "Yes it's a woman."

"I knew it." Sarah said. "Have I met her?"

Eve started to answer but before she could so much as utter a syllable an arrow rained down from the trees and landed at her feet.

"Whoa!" Sarah said, drawing her bat.

Eve yanked it out of her hand then yelled at her. "Are you crazy? That's an Amazon arrow, now clasp your hands above your head before you end up losing an eyeball."

Sarah did as she was instructed and within seconds half a dozen Amazons dropped down from the trees. One of them approached the two women and took her mask off to reveal dark features and dangerous eyes.

"Eve." She said, addressing the messenger. "We weren't expecting you for a few more days. Who's your friend?" She looked toward Sarah.

"Varia, meet Sarah." Eve said, dropping her hands. "Sarah, this is Varia, queen of the Greek Amazons."

Sarah dropped her hands and extended one of them after shaking off the open mouthed stare she had plastered on her face. If all the Amazons looked like Varia, living in the past might not be so bad after all.

They walked for just under a mile before reaching the camp. Most of the talking was done by Eve and Varia, both trying to catch each other up on the current events of their individual situations. The stone was not mentioned amongst the other Amazons for privacy purposes, and Sarah was nearly foaming at the mouth to find out where she could start looking.

"How've you been?" Varia asked, after all the formalities were out of the way.

Eve looked up in surprise. "Um… good…considering the circumstances I guess. You?"

"The same." The queen said. "We're having some trouble with the younger Amazons though. They don't seem to want to stay in the camp at night and there are apparently some brigands about. We've lost three of our sisters in the last four moons."

"That's terrible." Eve said with concern. "Have they been found?"

"No, that's just it." Varia said with frustration. "We find their weapons on the ground and blood nearby, but no bodies. We don't know what's happened to them."

"Are there any enemies nearby? Is the camp under attack?" Eve asked.

"It doesn't seem so." Varia said. "If there is a threat they haven't made any demands or even shown their faces. It's so strange. Now we just keep everyone in at night and put the guards at the gate on high alert. We can't afford to risk a perimeter watch."

"I'm glad you're safe." Eve said, softly touching Varia's bicep, and then quickly removing it once the queen had noticed the physical contact. "The tribe needs a strong leader. It would be terrible for them to lose you." She said hastily.

"Right." Varia said, tearing her eyes away from Eve's. "We've been very fortunate not to have an attack inside the village."

She paused for a moment, and then spoke again, her eyes never leaving the path ahead. "I'm glad we found you when we did. Nightfall will be coming soon and I wouldn't want anything to happen to you." She said, finally looking at Eve, but once the messenger's eyes met her own she added; "You know…Xena would kill me herself if anything happened to you."

Eve looked down and gave a small chuckle. "That she would."

Sarah was watching the entire scene with rapt attention. The small looks that the Queen and the Messenger were giving each other did not go unnoticed, and neither did the cautious dialogue. They walked for a few more minutes in silence before Varia announced that she was going to run ahead to prepare the camp for visitors.

As she ran off Eve's eyes followed her along the path.

Sarah moved in close to the messenger and leaned to whisper in her ear. "I'd like to solve the puzzle, Pat."

"What?" Eve said, drawn out of her reverie.

"I think I've figured out the answer to all those little questions I was asking you earlier." She said with a smirk.

"And if you have any interest in keeping your tongue in your mouth you'll hold it until we're in private." Eve said through clenched teeth.

Sarah was a bit taken aback. "Um, I thought you were supposed to be non-violent."

"Well you're not exactly mortal and you're annoying enough to even get on Eli's bad side. I think they'd let just one act of insanity slide." Eve said.

"Noted." Sarah said, tabling the discussion for a more private time.

As they walked through the Amazon camp Sarah and Eve were feeling very different emotions. Eve was nervous and filled with trepidation as she looked over the Amazons standing there to greet them. Some of their faces still showed the hatred they felt about her raid on the camp so many years ago, but some were more curious than hateful. It was the younger group that might possibly give her a chance. There was still too much pain left with the older ones.

Sarah could only think one thing as she surveyed her surroundings.

_My God, these girls hate clothing. I feel like I'm on Survivor: Bikini Island. Not that it's a bad thing._

"Sarah!"

She realized Eve had been speaking to her and tried to regroup. "Um, yeah, sorry. Just a little tired from the trek that's all."

Eve's look told her she knew exactly what the problem was. "We've been summoned to the queen's chambers for a private consultation."

"Right!" She said. "We should…" Her eyes followed an even more scantily clad Amazon walking out of the steam room back to her hut. "…go then."

Eve dragged her in the right direction and she tried to shake the Neanderthal mentality out of her head.

"Could somebody please explain to me what that new girl was wearing?" Zoe asked the group of girls sewing wine skins once the topic of conversation was out of earshot.

Meg looked up from her work and scanned the girls retreating form. "I don't know. It's weird, whatever it is. Maybe she's one of those rejected Spartan babies that have to fend for themselves in the woods. She may have made her own clothes."

"What girl? There's a new girl?" Rah asked, as she stood to get a look at who they were talking about.

"You missed her; she already went into the queen's hut." Zoe said to Rah then addressed Meg. "And they don't send the female Spartan babies out into the wild, sweetie, it's just the males."

"Was she attractive?" Rah asked, still looking in the direction of the tent.

Both Meg and Zoe simply rolled their eyes and went back to the sewing. It had been a while since Rah had a girlfriend, and it had been even longer since someone new had come into the camp.

The queen's hut was much more lavish on the inside that Sarah had expected. There were all kinds of masks and weapons, not to mention a huge bed. She only hoped that the rest of the accommodations in the camp would be so nice.

"So what is this secret mission you two are on?" Varia asked. "The message that came in before you was somewhat cryptic."

"We're here to find the green stone Xena entrusted to the Amazons a couple of years before she and Gabrielle went to sleep in the ice cave." Sarah said, not knowing whether the purpose of the stone had been revealed to the Amazons when the warrior placed it in their care.

"We were also hoping to possibly stay on for a while." Eve interjected and Sarah looked at her knowingly. "There may be something we can do to help you with the aggressors in the woods."

"Well we could certainly use your help with that." Varia said, looking relieved. "As for the stone, you will probably have to check with our village historian. I don't know anything about it, but if Xena entrusted us with it, you can rest assured it's well hidden."

"I believe you on that." Sarah said, remembering the trouble she'd gone through to get the damn rock in her own time.

"Yes, well now that we know you'll be staying on for a while I'll have Zoe prepare a welcome party for tonight. We always like to celebrate the arrival of new guests." The queen said. "In the mean time you're welcome to go to the scroll hut and speak with our head historian."

"Great." Sarah said as she moved toward the exit, Eve in tow.

"Eve." Varia called as she perused some scrolls on her desk.

The messenger looked back and answered. "Yes."

"Could you stay behind for a moment?" The queen asked. "I'd like to catch you up on a few things before you leave. Sarah, you can go ahead, just ask someone where to go and they'll be happy to escort you."

"Sure." Sarah, said as she left the two women alone.

Varia looked to Eve and started to speak. "So what's her story?" She asked.

"Sarah?" Eve asked and was answered with a nod. "She's a distant relative of my family. She heard that I was in trouble and found Xena and Gabrielle. She is the reason I'm still alive today."

"Oh, a relative." Varia said, seeming almost relieved. "I thought that maybe you two were…"

As the implications started to dawn on Eve she opened her mouth in shock then laughed.

"You mean, you thought we were…" Eve laughed again. "No, no definitely not. We're just family….and friends, but that's all."

"Right." Varia said with a small smile. "I guess I just assumed that you would probably be with someone by now. It's been a while since we last saw you and you are an attractive woman… and … can I get you something, you must be thirsty." She said as she turned to the pitcher behind her and began to pour.

Eve looked at her quizzically.

_Is she…No there's no possible way she could be interested in me. I killed her little sister for Eli's sake._ She thought, and then moved closer to the queen once she turned to offer the water. _She sure is acting strange though. Maybe I'll test the water's just a little._

"How 'bout you?" She asked, taking the offered cup. "These Amazons must be chomping at the bit to get to their beautiful queen, huh?"

_Did I really just say that?! _Eve thought.

_Did she really just say that?! _Varia thought.

"Well um… some more than others." The queen said, nervously. "But I'm not really interested in anyone in the village. Don't get me wrong, I love my subjects but…"

"But it just doesn't feel right with any of them." Eve asked.

"No, it doesn't." Varia answered, feeling herself calm into the conversation. "I think it might be _because_ they are my subjects, you know. There's this ease to it that just doesn't make any kind of courtship exciting."

"I understand, it was really hard for me to connect with anyone when I was…" Eve stopped and her brow furrowed as she tracked back to a time when she had nothing but subordinate soldiers under her command. A time when she raided Amazon villages and sold their warriors off as slaves. And when she looked into Varia's eyes she could tell that the queen had thought back to that time as well.

"I'm sorry, Varia." She gave the cup to her. "I should go."

"No, Eve, wait." Varia said, grabbing Eve's bicep. "We can't tip toe around this forever. We need to talk about it."

Both women had tears in their eyes when they locked. The stood there in silence for a few seconds, when Eve broke the contact.

"I'm sorry, Varia, I just can't." She pulled her arm away and started again for the door, then looked back to give a final explanation. "I care about you so much now. I just can't bear to relive what I've done knowing how much it hurt you. I'm sorry I'm such a coward."

And with that she left the queen alone with her thoughts.

Varia didn't know what to do. Every time she was around the young messenger her feelings raged in a war with each other. Part of her still wanted to hate her for what she'd done to her sister, and part of her could not help but know there was a very powerful connection between the two. She was disgusted with herself. She should hate Eve.

But she didn't, and that made her hate herself much more than she could ever hate the messenger.

Sarah perused the grounds of the Amazon village and finally found a group of girls off in the corner. They appeared to be smoking something, and the very possibility that there was tobacco in the camp was enough to distract her from her current task.

"Hey." She said to the group.

"Hey." They all answered back, not quite knowing quite what to say at first.

"I'm Sarah." She said, holding out her hand.

"My name's Meg." The one to the left came up first. She was cute with cheek length light hair that curled at the ends. Her eyes were calm and welcoming. "This is Rah."

She pointed to the small, but very toned girl to her right. Rah came forward with quick movements and broke out a smile that was infectious.

"Hi!" Rah said enthusiastically as she also took Sarah's hand.

"Rah, that's Egyptian, right?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah!" Rah said, excited about the fact that someone knew about her heritage. "I was born in Egypt as a slave girl, but then I escaped with one of the noble's sons and we headed for Greece. Then we got attacked by some thugs in the forest and the Amazons saved us and took me in. I was really lucky they did because I love life in the village, with all the girls and stuff…. And I talk a lot… They don't let me out much."

Sarah chuckled at the end of Rah's monologue. She talked very fast, and the time traveler found it endearing. "Nice to meet you, Rah."

"And this is Zoe." Rah said, pointing to the spiky haired blond to her right. "She's the supervisor of festivities and me and Meg work under her. Meg more than me though, cuz they're bonded and all."

Meg and Zoe looked at Rah and sighed, and then Zoe offered up a hand.

"So where are you from?" She asked, not really knowing what to think of the new girl. She dressed funny, she talked funny, and though she didn't seem like a threat there was something about her that seemed very strange.

Even if Rah hadn't said so, Sarah would have figured out that Zoe was the leader of the group. She seemed very cool, just leaning back and taking in the situation before saying anything herself.

"I'm from all over really, but I was born in the west." She said.

"Like in Ionia?" Zoe asked.

"A little further west than that." Sarah said, and then quickly changed the subject. "So um, what are you smoking there?"

"Oh it's this great stuff that Zoe grows. Just kind of relaxes you for a couple of minutes." Meg said. "Would you like to try some?" She asked offering up a small cigarette.

"You're a fucking life saver." Sarah said as she took her up on the offer. She then thought about it for a second, it could be pot and she still had stuff to do before settling in for the night. "This doesn't make you… hungry and sleepy does it?"

"Oh no." Meg said. "We save that stuff for later on."

"Gotcha." Sarah said as brandished her Zippo and lit up.

The rest of the women jumped back and looked at her as the first cave men would have at the site of flint scraping together and sparking.

"Oh my Goddess! What is that? Some kind of magic?" Rah asked.

"Oh, no." Sarah said, exhaling the smoke and realizing how odd the small device would look to these women. "No, it's just a fire making device I picked up on my travels. It's harmless I promise. You wanna try it?"

She offered the lighter up to the group and it was Zoe who first moved to try it out. She opened up the top of the Zippo then studied it for a moment as the other girl stared as well. With two hands on the silver object she rotated the flint a couple of times then finally did it fast enough to create a flame.

"Nice." She said, using it to light another cigarette and discarding the half smoked butt of her previous smoke to the ground.

Sarah thought for a minute then started to rummage through her bag. She had packed a five pack of Bics in there before she left just in case she lost her Zippo, but she figured using them to make friends might be better than letting them stick around in there on the off chance she might need them one day.

"Here." She said offering up three different colored lighters to each of the women. "It's the same thing only …"

"Pretty!" Meg said, reaching for the red one and striking the flint correctly on the first try.

Zoe reached for the blue one and gave back the Zippo before Rah reached for the green one.

They all struck the flint at the same time and smiled to each other. Very happy with the new toy they'd received from their new friend.

"Now you'll have to use it wisely, because the fuel won't last forever. But you should get some quick lights out of them for a while at least."

They all thanked her emphatically then Zoe started to speak.

"Look, I'm sure we'll be throwing a party later for your arrival. You should come by our fire pit at some point and try out some of the special stuff I've made. We don't share it with everybody because these bitches can party something fierce, but you seem pretty…"

"Cool?" Sarah said.

"Cool?" Zoe tried the word out for size and decided she liked it. "Yeah, you're cool. So make sure to find us later and we'll show you how Amazons really party."

"Sounds great!" Sarah said. "Hey before I let you get back to your work can you point me in the direction of the scroll hut? I'm supposed to be meeting the head historian."

"Well it's that one over there, but the historian is teaching lessons to the younger Amazons." Rah said. "You can go over to the lesson tent, it's right next to the scroll hut and the lessons should be over soon."

"Awesome, thanks." Sarah said as she waved goodbye. "I'll see you guys later."

Once she was out of sight the three women looked at each other and then at their new toys, then struck the flint in synchronicity and smiled.

As Sarah made her way over to the tent Eve caught up with her.

"Hey." Eve said.

"Hey, did you get everything squared away with Varia?" Sarah asked, still not sure what the two might have been discussing.

"Um yeah, everything's fine." The messenger said solemnly.

Sarah noticed the tone. "Have you always been this bad at lying?" She asked.

"What are you talking about?" Eve asked, knowing already she'd been caught.

"Well you look like your dog died and your best friend ran off with your wife. Add a little whiskey and banjo playing to the mix and you've got yourself a country song." Sarah said.

Eve sighed. "I don't want to talk about it."

Sarah stopped in her tracks and crossed her arms.

"What are you doing?" Eve asked.

"Waiting for you to stop being bullheaded and tell me what's going on." She said.

"Ugghhh. You are so annoying sometimes!" The messenger growled at her. "Look, things are just complicated with Varia right now, that's all."

"Complicated how?" Sarah asked.

"Complicated in the way that I killed someone very dear to her and she wants to talk about it." Eve said.

"So talk about it. Don't you think you owe that to her?" Sarah asked.

"Can you even try, just for a second, to put yourself in my position?" Eve said, moving closer. "I have some pretty damn strong feelings for her that I can't possibly act on because in the back of her mind she's always going to know that I'm a monster."

"But you're not a monster anymore, Eve." Sarah said. "The things you did in the past are tormenting you. That doesn't happen to monsters; they don't have regrets."

"You don't understand; every time I'm near her I feel such…" She sighed. "Such longing and despair."

"Yet you're the one who suggested we stay a little longer to help them out with their problem. The good must somehow be overpowering the bad. Either that or you're way more masochistic than I had imagined." Sarah said.

"That was when I thought that the tension between us was still there because she hated me." Eve said, shaking her head and ignoring the joke at the end of Sarah's comments. "Now it's different."

"How's it different?" Sarah asked.

"I think she was coming on to me." Eve said. "She thought that you and I might have been together and she seemed unhappy about it. Then when she found out it wasn't true she seemed relieved."

"God, I'm so confused." Sarah said, adjusting the hat on her head. "Shouldn't you be happy about that?"

"No!" Eve persisted. "She deserves to hate me, and I deserve her hatred. I can't even imagine how tortured she would be if she fell in love with someone who had done such terrible things to her family."

"Eve, let me know if I'm wrong here, but isn't one of Eli's big platforms all about forgiveness?" Sarah asked.

Eve just stood there and looked at her for a second. She knew Sarah was right, but it still didn't change the way she felt.

"Not for me." She told the time traveler. "Now, please, just drop it. We have more important things to do and I just don't feel like dealing with this right now."

Sarah looked at her and decided she'd been through enough. The subject was tabled for the time being and with a nod they both headed toward the lesson tent to meet the historian.

What they didn't expect to see was a very tall black _man_ teaching the Amazon children. Both of them stared on in awe.

"Don't these crazy bitches kill men if they come in the camp?" Sarah whispered to Eve as to not interrupt the lesson.

"They used to." Eve said; just as confused as Sarah.

They looked on at the scene. The man at the head of a class of nearly twenty pre-pubescent Amazons spoke slowly and with purpose. Sarah placed him around twenty five years of age. He had a sturdy frame and sometimes spoke with his hands. At the moment he seemed to be teaching about Socrates.

"So, you can see Socrates' problem was that he was an intelligent idiot. He was constantly asking all of his students to broaden their minds and think outside the box when, in the end, his unwavering devotion to a state that hated him would cause his mortal undoing." He paced as she spoke and looked mostly at the floor before asking for questions. "Now we don't have much time left and I think I've covered just about everything for the day, so does anyone have any questions?"

A dark haired, spunky looking Amazon on the right side of the room raised her hand and stood to address the teacher. She was grinning mischievously as she paused to figure out how she was going to ask the question she'd formed. A group of girls around her were snickering softly.

"Master Anthony." She started.

"Yes, Pyra, go ahead." He addressed her.

"Are you a virgin?" She asked.

As soon as the last word of the sentence exited her mouth nearly the entire class burst into uncontrollable giggles, as did Sarah who received a soft slap from Eve. They waited to see how the instructor would handle the situation. He simply stood there for a few seconds contemplating his next move and right when he opened his mouth to speak he was interrupted by a student from the left side of the room.

"Pyra, you're as dumb as a Cyclops. Of course he's not a virgin." Said the lithe looking brunette who was standing strong, hands balled up in fists on the table. Everyone's attention, including the instructor's, on her.

"First of all, Master Anthony studied in Egypt!" She said, and Anthony decided to let her continue just to see what might come next.

"Second of all," She said putting one of her fists in the air with two fingers sticking out. "Master Anthony is a tall, black man!"

Sarah's jaw hit the ground and Eve's eyes seemed like they were going to pop out of her head, but the instructor remained calm, still waiting to see how this was going to end.

"And third…" She said raising a third finger and putting emphasis on her next words. "Master Anthony studied in Egypt!"

She then slammed her fist down on the table as if she'd just proven her point even though two of her examples were exactly the same. The entire class was silent and Sarah now had a hand over her mouth to fight the laughter that was just dying to get out. After a few seconds the room shifted their attention to the instructor, without a clue as to how he would address these claims. Anthony simply smiled and stood up.

"You know…" He paused briefly to look around the room. "I think we're done for the day. Why don't you guys go harass the weapons instructor, now?"

As the girls shuffled quickly out of the room to attend their favorite class of the day, Sarah and Eve moved in to speak with the teacher.

"Um, hi." Sarah said to him as he was gathering his scrolls.

"Hello." He said, looking up. "Can I help you with something?"

"I hope so." Sarah said. "My name is Sarah, and this is Eve, daughter of Xena and Gabrielle."

"Oh, wow, I've read about you." He said to Eve, and she hung her head in shame. "I'm kind of Amazed you've come back to camp after all that has happened with you trying to kill the Amazons, then the Amazons trying to kill you."

"You know, that's funny. We were just talking about how weird it was for you to be in the camp being that the Amazons aren't too fond of living with men." Sarah said hastily. She was starting to realize that she was becoming a lot more protective of Eve than she ever thought she would.

"Yeah, neither one of us are exactly characters that fit in around here, huh?" He said before smiling and offering up his hand to both of them. "My name is Anthony and I'm a runaway from Egypt. The Amazons took me in because I saved the life of one of their sisters."

Eve took the offered hand and issued a genuine greeting as she clasped the forearm. "It's nice to meet you Anthony. I'd love to hear the whole story at some point during our stay."

He nodded then looked over to Sarah who did the same. "Same here."

"Well I assume that that's not the only reason you came to see me, unless you wanted to know more about Socrates that is." He said, getting to the point.

"No, actually it isn't." Sarah said. "We were told that you were in charge of keeping up the Amazonian historical scrolls and were hoping you could help us find some information on a green stone given to the Amazons by Xena over 25 years ago. It was supposed to be hidden and kept safe."

"Hmm." He said, truly interested in the task. "What was the stone's purpose?"

"Uhhh. Don't know." Sarah said, hoping he could still find it without that much information being divulged. "It was pretty big though. About the size of the palm of your hand, green in color, and she would have brought it here on a visit without Queen Gabrielle. Is that enough information to get you started?"

"I'm not sure." He said, the wheels already turning in his head. "I haven't read a lot of the scrolls from that far back, especially if they didn't have to do with some sort of conflict, but I'd be happy to check it out for you. Give me a couple of days, maybe a week and I should at least be able to point you in the right direction."

"Great!" Sarah said, happy with the man's confidence. "If you need us to help you out, just let us know."

"Actually, I'm afraid only Eve would be able to help." He said, and elaborated after seeing the confusion on Sarah's face. "Only Amazons are allowed to touch the sacred scrolls. Eve is an Amazon by direct birth, you however we have no records of, so you'll either have to become an Amazon or sit out the research."

Burying herself in Ancient Amazon scrolls for days did not sound like Sarah's idea of fun after all she'd been through; she decided to leave that to the professional.

"No problem." She said. "I don't mind waiting around while you guys take care of all the fun stuff."

"Alright then," Anthony said, "It's settled. Eve you can help me start looking through the scrolls first thing tomorrow morning."

Eve was more than happy to help and Sarah was more than happy to have a couple of days off just to relax. They said their goodbyes to the instructor, and then started to walk out of the hut before Sarah realized something. Turning back she spoke to the professor once more.

"Hey, I just thought of something." She said. "If you're able to take care of the scrolls does that make you…"

"An Amazon?" He finished her sentence, and then gave her a look of mild amusement. "Yep, I'm afraid I have the incredibly emasculating honor of being the first initiated male Amazon. Feel free to hold your laughter until after you've cleared the exit."

Sarah gave off a small smirk, and then clapped the man on the shoulder.

"I thought having to deal with the Amazons would be bad enough for you, I didn't expect you to actually be one." She said, in a mock way of consolation, and then walked off after Eve. "See ya later, Anthony!"

"I've got to get out of this camp." He said to nothing more than the roof of the hut, then gathered the rest of his things and went about his day.

As day turned to night the festivities started to commence. There was a huge feast laid out for the new guests consisting of all kinds of vegetables, fruits and a large wild boar. Wine was flowing freely and everyone's spirits were very high. Varia had started things off with a toast to Eve and Sarah before everyone was allowed to dig in. Then after a few drinks and a full belly, Sarah decided to go talk to the stoic Queen while Eve was involved with a detailed description of the history of the Elisians to a group of Amazons.

"Mind if I join you?" She asked.

"No, of course not." Varia said as she sipped at her wine and stared at the young messenger.

"You better watch that one." Sarah said, jokingly. "She might convert your Amazons over to the path of love."

Varia chuckled. "Not that particular group. They're too young and ornery to step away from the thrill of battle. I think they are taken by her beauty."

"Doesn't seem like they're the only ones." Sarah said, taking a sip from her own cup. "You've barely taken your eyes off of her all night."

"If you're going to make accusations I'd prefer you just come right out and say them." Varia said, pulling her eyes away from Eve so she could shoot daggers from them at Sarah.

"I was under the impression I was simply making an observation; accusations are used against people who are generally up to no good." She rolled her eyes. "Jeez, you Amazons are touchy."

"Either way, it's none of your business." Varia said.

"Honey, you wouldn't believe the things I've jumped into that were absolutely none of my business. I'm a pro in this arena." Sarah joked.

"Well why are you jumping into this one?" Varia asked; she was growing impatient.

"Because you're torturing her and I don't even think you know it." Sarah said.

"Is that what she said?" Varia asked, alarmed.

"Nope, that's another one of my observations." Sarah said. "Look, I'm not going to beat around the bush here. I know your history with Eve, and it's a fucking shame that things went that way. But you have got to know that she feels terrible about what she did to your sister."

"You think I don't know that?" Varia asked. "You're not the only one who's so perceptive. I see her face every time she looks at me. It's like the very sight of me instills so much pain inside her."

"Does she instill pain in you?" Sarah asked.

"I wish she did." Varia said in a defeated tone. "That would make things so much simpler. But the truth is when I look at her I see a beautiful woman trying so hard, with every fiber of her being, to atone for a horrific past. If I walked up to her right now and demanded her life for what she did to my sister she would gladly give it to me." She looked down at her hands in her lap. "What she won't give me is the chance to be anything more than cordial with her. The slightest step into kindness and she shuts down."

"Have you ever thought about forcing her to hear you out?" Sarah asked. "She's the daughter of Xena and Gabrielle. Eve has enough stubbornness in her to drag this out for the rest of her life. Do you really want to wait that long?"

Varia looked at her as if she were starting to make sense, then shook her head and looked away.

"I don't even know what I can give her with our past experiences looming in the background. It would probably never work." Varia said.

"You could be right." Sarah offered up, taking another sip. "But you'll never know until you try. Don't you at least owe yourself that?"

"But my sister…" Varia said, going off to a dark place.

"Your sister was killed by Livia, and as stupid as this may sound, that woman is dead. Eve killed her. She is not the one who murdered your sister anymore; she's the one who avenged her death." Sarah paused. "She also mourns it every day of her life."

Varia looked again at the messenger, and thought for a few moments before letting out a very small chuckle. "You must be related to them. You're completely unrelenting."

Sarah smiled; she had won.

"Yep." She said, stretching out in victory. "We were born with heavy amounts of the stubborn gene. So what are you gonna do?"

"I think I'm gonna pull her away from those Amazons for a private conversation before they get a little too well acquainted with each other." Varia said; standing and offering her hand to Sarah. "Thank you for having this conversation with me. Of course you know if it doesn't turn out well I'll have every right to kill you according to Amazon law."

Sarah took the offered forearm. "Sweetie, I'd like to see you try." She said, tipping her hat and keeping her seat until Varia had escorted Eve safely back to her hut.

"Now, that's what you call a wingman." Sarah said as she tossed back the rest of the contents of her cup and standing to go meet up with her new friends.

To Be Continued…


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

Secrets of the Night

"We have to talk." Varia said as she placed herself between Eve and the door to her own hut, crossing her arms to make it clear that she didn't intend to move.

"We really don't." Eve said, reaching for the door handle then jerking her hand back when she was blocked by the bare skin on the side of Varia's well toned abdomen.

The Queen noticed her violent reaction and unfolded her arms while stepping closer to the Messenger. "You have worked so hard to find a way to make up for your past with every person you come across; why am I any different?" She asked.

Eve backed away as she approached and spoke. "I have told you countless times how sorry I am for what I did to you and your sister and I would tell you every day for the rest of my life if I thought that would bring her back"

"But you won't so much as stay in the same room with me long enough to hear how I feel." Varia said, still moving closer.

"Because I can't, Varia; it would hurt too much." With her last word a tear shook loose from her eye as her back abruptly met the wall.

Varia slowed her approach and just looked at Eve's sullen face before reaching out a hand to wipe the lonely tear away. "What are you so afraid of?" She asked.

Eve swallowed hard, and then spoke. "The mere possibility that, through time, you've somehow found a way to forgive me." She slowly removed Varia's hand from her cheek and held it before her; softly stroking the callused warrior skin. "I have crossed land and sea searching for atonement for the terrible things I've done and I will probably continue to do so for the rest of my life. Now, people are willing to forgive me my past as a ruthless murderer and give me the chance to show them the way of love, and I am so grateful for that forgiveness. But with you…" She paused and removed her eyes from the hand she was stroking, up to the depths of the dark orbs in front of her. "I can't explain it, but with you I don't want to be forgiven. I want to apologize for a thousand years and never be forgiven."

Varia's brow furrowed and her heart ached for the pain the young Messenger was in.

"But why, Eve?" Varia asked and Eve dropped her head again and started to shake it. Varia grabbed her shoulders and forced her to face the situation. "No, you owe me this. You can accept it from so many other people, why not me?"

Eve's heart was racing and she felt like she couldn't breathe, but she pushed down her fear and reached her hands up to Varia's face. "Because of this."

Her tone was defeated and submissive, but she'd never been more in control of her own happiness than in that moment. With an aching slowness she moved her lips closer to the Queen's; her eyes alternating attention on her destination and the intensely dark eyes staring back at her, until she finally closed her own upon contact. The kiss was soft, and unhurried. She'd planned for it to be brief, but the response she got from the dark warrior was unexpectedly receptive. Her thumbs stroked high cheek bones as she pulled back only far enough to allow herself the pleasure of dipping back in again. After the third dip she felt strong arms encircle her waist and clutch her back as Varia started to deepen the kiss with a small flick of her tongue against inviting lips.

It was then that Eve slowly pulled back and looked at the ground once more. Varia was breathing heavily and she couldn't pull her eyes away from the young Messenger for anything in the world. She was internally debating whether her next move should be to talk to her or continue kissing her, but she didn't have time to make that decision as Eve finally looked back up and decided to speak.

"Somehow," Eve started off. "In between meeting you and being imprisoned by you…coming back and almost being killed by you… and holding you during one of your greatest times of need..." She took a deep breath. "I fell in love with you, Varia."

"Eve, I-"She was cut off by the messenger.

"The thing is, because I'm in love with you I hate myself even more for what I've done. It makes me believe that I should have to live with that hate for the rest of my life." She slowly pulled away from the Queen. "And I can't do that if you forgive me."

As Eve started to walk by her, Varia warred between letting the woman leave and continuing a conversation that was hard for both of them. In a matter of seconds she opted for the latter and grabbed Eve by the wrist and turned her around.

"I don't accept that." Varia said shaking her head with determination. "You made the decision a long time ago to take someone precious away from me; you don't get to do it again. I don't care how much it hurts because the fact of the matter is I _have_ forgiven you, Eve, whether you like it or not. And the gods must truly be cruel to place such a burden on the both of us, because I fell in love with you too. We have to deal with it; we can't run away and just pretend that it didn't happen. I have to address the fact that I'm in love with the woman responsible for the death of my sister, and you have to wrestle with the idea of forgiving yourself enough to allow yourself the happiness of being loved."

"I don't deserve it." Eve said sternly.

"And I don't deserve to go through life wondering if I let go of my one true chance at happiness because I didn't fight hard enough for it." She paused, once again taking Eve by the shoulders. "Don't you see how strong this thing between us must be given all the odds we're up against? Are you really just going to throw it away because you're too afraid to face your past?"

Eve looked on at her like a rabbit cornered by a wolf. She knew she was starting to lose this battle.

"I have no idea how we could possibly make this work." She said.

"And that would place you in the shoes of every other person embarking on a new relationship." Varia countered.

Eve was taken aback for a second by the truth of Varia's reasoning, but still continued on against what felt like a lost cause. "I don't even love myself, how can I possibly give you the kind of love you deserve?"

"You are capable of giving profound love to your friends and family, you'd simply be adding physicality to it by choosing to be in a relationship." She moved in closer and raised her left hand to Eve's face. "And judging by the kiss we just shared I can't imagine you'd be lacking in that department."

"I have a duty to spread the word of Eli, and that takes up a great deal of my time and energy." She said, in a last ditch effort.

"And I have the monumental task of looking after the prosperity of some of the most obnoxious subjects to ever walk the Earth." Varia said, putting her right hand around the Messenger's back and pulling her close. "You got anything else? Because I must admit I've never had to work this hard to get a woman to kiss me a second time."

"I've never been in love before." Eve said; a small tremble working its way into her voice. It was her last excuse.

Varia softly smiled at this, then spoke. "Well at least we know we have one thing in common. Maybe it'll make things easier if we figure it out together."

They stared into each other's eyes for seconds that felt like hours before finally moving in simultaneously for a kiss and a chance they both couldn't help but take. Eve buried her hands in Varia's dark locks and held nothing back. She nipped and sucked at the Queen's lips and accepted equally ambitious movements from her companion. And when Varia's tongue requested and was granted entry into her mouth both women moaned against each other. They pulled away only to catch their breath. When their eyes met they both smiled.

They both knew they had a long, extremely welcomed, night ahead of themselves.

Sarah made her way over to what had to be the biggest fire pit in the camp. She saw Zoe and Meg passing a joint between them and discussing the merit of some sort of violent piece of folklore. Rah was busy adding more brush and wood to the fire, as if it needed further fuel, and Anthony was leaning back against a log slowly sipping wine and observing the interactions within the camp. He was the first one to hail Sarah, so she decided to take her seat beside him. She walked past several other Amazon's that she wasn't acquainted with on the way and noted to herself that this was, indeed, the popular social circle to be in.

"Have a seat." Anthony said with a welcoming smile. Sarah wasn't sure if it was the wine that made him more laid back or the atmosphere of the party itself, but either way she was happy to be in good company. "Need a refill?" He inquired about her cup.

"Yeah, thanks a lot!" She said, offering her glass.

"It's my special blend." He said, pouring her a not so modest portion. "Zoe likes hers a little sweeter than I do, but I think you'll notice that this finishes really well."

It did. In fact, it was one of the finest wines she'd ever tasted; not that she was an expert.

"This is excellent." She said. "Is it blended or something."

"Good call." He said. "There are two distinctly different grapes in there. Are you a wine connoisseur?"

"God no." Sarah said, with a chuckle. "I'm a lush."

Anthony simply smiled quizzically and nodded his head.

"So have you had enough to drink to tell me the story of how you became an Amazon, or are you gonna keep me guessing? Because I should warn you: I've got a very overactive imagination." Sarah said and earned a laugh from her companion.

"Well, let's see." He started and formed his thoughts slowly. "I don't know if you heard before, but Rah is a runaway slave from Egypt."

"Yeah." Sarah said. "She told me she escaped with a noble's son. Is that you?"

"Yep, that would be me." He said, swirling the wine in his glass. "You see, I was the youngest son in a household of very unlikeable men. Pretty much the only people I ever related to were Rah and my mother. We purchased Rah when she was just a child and we're both around the same age so we would play together a lot. I was usually able to get her out of a lot of trouble, but she would still get beaten every now and then by my father." He took a drink and paused for a bit before continuing. "I couldn't really do much about any of the beatings accept for try to keep her out of trouble, but one day that wasn't even good enough. One day when she was getting a fairly nasty pounding from my dad she fought back and struck him to the ground. The sentence for a slave striking a noble is death. So that night I helped her escape from my house and somehow we managed to make it to Greece."

"You sound like a pretty brave guy." Sarah said sincerely.

"If I were brave I would have stood up to my father. Instead I chose to run away from him." He said, looking into the fire.

"You saved someone's life, despite the risk to yourself. That makes you brave in my book." She said, and decided to change the subject when he only responded with a shrug. "So how'd you talk these wily women into accepting you as one of their own rather than putting you in the stocks for having a penis on their land?"

This made him laugh and Sarah was happy about it.

"Well, when we made it to Greece we sort of got lost and ended up wandering into Amazon territory. There was a group of them being attacked by some slavers and they were outnumbered. Rah and I decided to help and somewhere along the way I ended up saving one of the Amazons, namely Zoe. One of the thieves shot an arrow at her and I jumped in front of it."

"That was very valiant of you." Sarah said.

"It hit me in the ass." Anthony replied.

Sarah couldn't help chuckling at the circumstances. "Where I come from, we call that a million dollar wound."

"Well call it whatever you want, that was how I got into camp." Anthony said. "The healer helped extract the arrow then stitch me back up and after a week of bed rest they were ready for me to leave. Now during that week Zoe and Rah became very close to each other." He gave Sarah a wink and she chuckled in understanding. "So Rah was reluctant to leave and Zoe was even more reluctant for her to go."

"So how'd she swing initiating you both?" Sarah asked.

"Well as you've probably already noticed, Zoe pulls a lot of weight in the community seeing as how Amazon's like their party favors, and she's the one that supplies them. So she refused to distribute any more wine until we were both allowed to stay."

"How long did negotiations last?" Sarah asked.

"Three days." Anthony said, raising his cup for a toast.

"Nice." Sarah said, obliging him.

"And after that we were both accepted into the group and we've been here ever since." He said.

"But Zoe's with Meg now, so I assume she and Rah broke up at some point, right?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah." He answered, and then went to explain things further. "I don't know how familiar you are with Sapphic relationships…"

"I'm a pro." She cut him off.

"Of course you are." He said with a small laugh. "Well then pretty much all I need to say is there was a party with lots of horny, drunk Amazons around and at some point lines of friendship blurred and the relationship exploded into a whole bunch of…" he searched for the word.

"Drama." Sarah said, understanding completely.

"Yeah, drama, exactly." Anthony liked the use of the word in the context. "Anyway they broke up, got over it and they're still good friends."

"Well here's to a happy ending." She said, and they toasted again.

"So what's your story?" He asked.

"Uh…" she tried to figure out how to answer that. He'd already been so honest with her, and she really didn't want to lie. "I'm pretty much a wanderer. Been searching the world for different kinds of treasure ever since I was able, and then I went in search of my family."

"Eve." He said, understanding.

"And Xena and Gabrielle." She said with a nod.

"Is this green stone you want me to find part of your treasure hunting?" He asked. Anthony had a way of asking questions that could sound accusatory and accepting all at the same time.

"It's a lot more important, and complicated, than that." She said. Now it was her turn to avoid his eyes by looking into the fire. "Let's just say it's incredibly important to me."

"Understandable." He said, letting the subject drop right before they were interrupted.

"Hey!" Zoe yelled at them from across the fire. "Are you two gonna sit in the corner like a couple of losers all night or are you gonna join the group?"

"I think that's our cue to stop being antisocial with each other." Anthony said getting up and offering Sarah a hand as well.

"Peer pressure." She said, accepting the hand. "I guess some things never change."

They'd been inching their way closer and closer to the Queen's bed for what seemed like an eternity before the back of Eve's knee's finally made contact with it. She forced herself to break free from the kiss and look Varia in the eyes before she reached down and started to remove her own shirt. Varia looked at her intently and brought her hands forward to halt the action.

"We don't have to do this." The Queen said. "I mean, if you're not ready I understand."

Eve smiled at her softly and continued to remove her shirt. She spoke once it was clear of her head and deposited haphazardly onto the floor.

"Varia, as far as I'm concerned the hard part is over. So unless you're having second thoughts, I was hoping we could proceed on our current course."

"Thank the Gods." She said as she once again lowered her mouth to Eves and proceeded to shed her own top. "You have no idea how badly I want you."

"I think I might be able to understand." Eve said, helping her with the complicated leather corset.

Once it was shed they both fell onto the bed and situated themselves near its head. Varia maneuvered herself on top of Eve; her right thigh pressing into the apex of the Messenger's. Eve threw her head back and moaned at the contact, giving Varia ample invitation to sample the soft skin of her neck while her right hand roamed teasingly along the woman's side.

Eve clutched at her back and relished the skin on skin contact of their upper bodies, while her lower body started to grind against the Amazon. She could feel her sucking at her exposed neck and immediately pulled the dark head down harder onto her skin. Varia, in turn, sucked more intently on the creamy expanse of flesh and was rewarded with a moan.

The encouragement on Eve's part led the Queen to explore further with her hands. Slowly her strokes started to wander closer to the Messenger's exposed breasts. Eve's breathing was becoming erratic as she moved in closer so she decided to pull back so she could see her eyes. As her lower body continued to grind against the woman her hand slowed its path. She watched the blue-green eyes in front of her widen in anticipation as the mouth below them hungrily sucked in air and expelled moans so small they were almost undetectable. When she finally reached the soft mound under her hand they became somewhat less undetectable. Eve closed her eyes as Varia lovingly caressed and squeezed her breast before her fingers descended upon an aching nipple.

At that moment Eve threw her head back with a moan and decided it was time to turn the tables as she flipped the Queen over and started her own exploration. She kissed her way from soft lips, over an incredibly proud chin, down the expanse of a tightly corded neck, and finally onto the soft swell of an exposed breast. When her tongue finally reached an erect nipple she felt a strong hand take hold of the back of her head and encourage her to continue on. While she complied for a short while she had other plans that involved a continued survey of the beautifully strong body before her. Her mouth started to kiss, lick and suck down a rock hard expanse of muscle before meeting the knotted leather of an Amazon skirt.

"I've wanted to taste you for so long." Eve said as she started to divest the Queen of her belt. "But every time I thought about it I could only imagine how wrong it was for me to want you." With the belt loose she started on the skirt itself. Once it was completely off she looked up to Varia, hesitance in her eyes and a nervous chuckle in her voice. "I guess now it's my turn to say this: If you're not ready I understand. Are you sure that this is what you want? That… I'm… what you want." She asked, half expecting for Varia to change her mind and tell her to get out.

Instead the Amazon Queen sat up and brought Eve onto her knees so they could be face to face. As she spoke softly to Eve she stroked her cheek.

"Eve, I have never wanted anyone as much as I want you." She said before placing a soft kiss against the messengers. "And with all we've got working against us, for me to still want you as much as I do must mean that there is something between us; something strong and right. I want to feel you loving me instead of chastising myself for imagining it. I want us to take all the energy we've used to hurt each other and refocus it on pleasing each other." She kissed her again, this time taking her time and drawing it out. "Love me, Eve." She said, once they finally broke apart. "Just love me."

Varia's plea destroyed any insecurities the Messenger might have had before and served to only fan the flames of her desire. With a soft growl she pushed Varia onto her back and finished removing the last obstacle between her and her goal. She gently eased Varia's legs apart and lowered herself down to start the healing process.

"And after she'd said her goodbyes to both the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion she moved on to her dearest friend in all of OZ and hugged him as she said 'Oh, Scarecrow, I think I'll miss you most off all.' Then with a click of her heels and a few recitations of 'There's no place like home.' she was back in her bed, safe on the farm in Kansas with her Aunt Em, Uncle Henry, and all the farm hands waiting worriedly for her to wake up. Dorothy had finally made her way back home."

Sarah finished and was met with a raucous bout of applause from all of the Amazons around her; some even had tears in their eyes.

"Thank you, thank you." She said, bowing a few times before taking her seat around the fire.

"What a wonderful story." Meg said.

"It's one of my favorites." Sarah replied.

"Could have done with a little more suspense." Zoe said with a friendly wink.

"No, I think we've had enough of that for a while, considering the circumstances." Meg said before finishing off her wine.

"This is true." Zoe agreed. "I'm not sure if they told you when you reached the camp, but we've lost a few of our sisters to something out there in the woods."

"They did." Sarah said. "Varia said that there were some road brigands taking out the Amazons that wandered into the woods at night."

"Well that's one version." Zoe replied.

"What do you mean?" Sarah asked. "What's the other version?"

"Well I don't know how many common thieves you've come in contact with, but they don't usually tend to take the bodies with them when they've finished looting and they definitely don't leave perfectly good weapons behind."

Sarah thought about it for a bit and realized that Zoe was right.

"That actually makes a lot of sense." She said. "What do you think has happened to the girls?"

"Could be a number of things." Anthony piped in. "Cannibals are known to take their victims back to camp, as are zealots that might have used them for ritualistic sacrifice."

"Eww." Meg said, scrunching her face. "Can we please not talk about this? Those were our friends that went missing out there. I don't want to think about them being eaten or sacrificed."

"And I don't want to hear about any more of them winding up that way." Rah said, standing up and swaying as she finished off her wine. She was obviously three sheets to the wind and everyone got quiet as she spoke. "I say we go out there and show those Cannibells or ritua… ritual…murderer's who's boss. I'll take 'em all on myself if I have to." She slurred as she threw down her cup, and grabbed her bow and quiver before bolting over the wooden fence and into the woods.

Everyone at the campfire was dumbfounded enough to simply sit there and stare for a few seconds. Sarah finally composed herself enough to speak.

"Is she serious?" She asked the group as they all started to get to their feet.

"Depends on how drunk she is." Zoe said as she took off after the girl.

"Holy shit." Sarah said and went after them both, Anthony following close behind her and Meg not far behind him.

"Rah, get your ass back here!"

They heard Zoe cry as their eyes tried to adjust to the darkness once they'd all climbed over the fence.

"Jesus Christ that girl's spry for being as intoxicated as she is." Sarah said as she rubbed her shoulder. She thought she might have pulled something bounding over the fence as quickly as she did.

"We should split up." Zoe said as she scanned the area. Rah was nowhere in sight.

"Uh, no." Sarah said, moving ahead and facing them all. "If I've learned one thing from horror movies it's that you're always safer in a group… Unless you're climbing from tree to tree in a group with inbred Cannibals trying to catch you, but _Wrong Turn_ wasn't all that realistic anyway. We should stay together."

"While I didn't understand all of that, I must say I agree." Anthony said. "We'll be safer in a group. And though we might not cover as much ground, that won't matter if we're all dead."

"Let me take the lead." Sarah said, grabbing a small, but sturdy fallen tree branch. "Everybody grab something to defend yourself with and stay close."

They all surveyed the area and grabbed either a stone or a stick and followed her lead.

Sarah tried to keep her senses open like Eve told her to do, but that was proving incredibly difficult considering the full belly of wine she was carrying. So instead of trying to focus in all of her senses she tried to rely more on her hearing, being that she couldn't see too much in the dark anyway. If she closed her eyes and concentrated she could just make out the faint sounds of soft foot falls towards her right side. She put a finger up to her lips then signaled for everyone to give her some space as she slowly moved forward trying not to make a sound. She finally got close enough to a small shrub to see Rah's lithe figure hunched behind it, readying an arrow. With adept stealth she didn't even know she had she moved behind the girl and placed a hand over her mouth.

"Rah it's me, Sarah." She said as softly as possible. "I'm gonna take my hand off of your mouth, but you have to promise to be quiet, ok?"

Rah nodded in agreement and Sarah removed her hand before peaking through the bush to see what Rah had been focused on.

"See, I found 'em." She said with a proud smile. "Now if I can just get my arrows out quick enough I can hit one right after the other before they run away."

"And that would be an excellent plan if there were actually two men standing there." Sarah pointed out.

"What are you talking about; they're standing right next to each other." Rah retorted.

"No sweetie." Sarah said.

Rah squinted her eyes at the 'men' in question then looked at Sarah and spoke again. "Well that would explain why they keep moving so in sync with each other."

"Yeah." Sarah said, taking her eyes off Rah and moving them back to the clearing only to find that the man that even she'd seen was no longer there.

"Oh shit." She said.

"Hello ladies, out for a late night stroll?" Said the ominous voice to their left.

Sarah quickly jerked Rah behind her and readied her stick as she heard the rest of the group come to back her up. The man in front of her was somewhat lanky and dirty looking, a leer painted his face as he took in the situation.

"Yeah, and it looks like our friends came to join us." Sarah said, feeling confident that she could take on the malnourished frame. She stepped forward but used her left hand to signal the rest of the group to stay back.

"The more, the merrier, I always say." The man moved to the left a bit and his prey moved to the right as if they were about to take place in some kind of dance.

"You the one who's been taking the Amazon girls these last few moons?" Sarah asked, holding the stick in front of her with both hands as they continued to slowly keep step with each other. Their positions were now reversed, which was exactly where she wanted him. If he attacked her now, he'd have four other people at his back.

"Now do I look like I would do something like that?" He stopped moving and mocked her.

"No, but he sure does." Rah said as she pointed behind Sarah.

"Sarah, look out!" Zoe yelled as Sarah turned into a swift right hook that knocked her to the ground.

This guy was a lot bigger. He towered over Sarah's form as she moved back to her feet. With her attention drawn elsewhere the smaller man descended upon the group.

"Don't you know it's not nice to attack a girl from behind?" She said, swinging the stick and breaking it in half on the man's skull. He barely even flinched. "Guess not." She said swallowing hard then swiftly dodging a meaty fist headed straight for her head.

"Let's see how many more times I can pull that off." She said to herself as she continued to dodge and weave around his attacks.

Meanwhile the other attacker was descending upon the group and Anthony took point, brandishing a knife that he kept in his boot. He swiped it several times at the attacker and missed as the man backed out of the way, but was given an opening after Meg was lucky enough to throw a hefty rock at his head. The distraction gave Anthony just enough time to sink the knife deep into the man's side.

He screamed and then backed off; howling at first in pain, but then changing to laughter. He stood upright and pulled the knife from his side and pounded it into a nearby tree. All four of them looked at him in awe as he smiled mischievously.

"See this is the part where your little friends usually take off running." He said.

"Yeah, well we're too drunk to retreat." Ra said, letting loose an arrow straight into his heart.

He only had a few seconds to look down and realize what had happened before looking back in pain. Afterward his entire frame crumbled into dust.

Everyone was quiet for a few seconds as they tried to take in what had just happened. The sounds of a fist being pounded into Sarah's abdomen could not even pull them from their stupor.

"Did the rest of you see that too?" Rah asked, seriously starting to question her senses.

"Zoe, what did you put in the herbs tonight?" Meg asked.

"I don't know, but I'm renegotiating the trade policy once we get back into camp." Zoe answered.

"Um, guys." Anthony interrupted. "We may want to try to help Sarah out now."

They all looked over to the girl and noticed that the big burly man now had her pinned against a tree by her shoulders several inches from the ground and his mouth was about to descend on her jugular.

"Rah, shoot him in the heart just like you did last time." Zoe said. "And make it quick I think he's literally about to bite her head off."

Sarah kicked and spit and cursed at her assailant to try to get free of his grasp.

"Oh you just wait mother fucker. I am so gonna kick your ass once I figure out a way to get you to put me down." She screamed.

Then she noticed the fangs that started to glisten in the moonlight as they extracted themselves from his gums.

"No fucking way." She said, not believing her eyes.

"You are either incredibly brave, or incredibly stupid." He said; his voice deep and haunting. "I like that in my food."

He started to move in, but grunted and looked back at the group with a growl. An arrow had ripped through his right shoulder.

"To the left more!"

Sarah could hear Meg screaming before another arrow whizzed by both her and the freak in front of her.

"No, your other left!"

Came the cry from Zoe and with it another arrow that struck so hard it passed through the center of the man's chest and shallowly embedded itself into Sarah's own.

"You gotta be kidding me." Sarah said, as the man dropped her and turned toward the rest of the gang.

She was hoping now that he was turned around they would have a better shot at his heart. Then she heard one of the worst possible sentences that could have been uttered at that moment.

"Uh, guys." Rah said timidly. "I'm out of arrows."

Sarah sighed then grunted in pain as she tried to get to her feet. Her plan at this point was simply to jump on his back and divert his attention long enough so the rest of them could get away, but before she even had the chance she felt cool air whip by her side from the opposite direction. Then in front of her eyes was the half broken limb sticking out of the man's back. He stopped and stood there for a minute, then quickly turned to dust just as his companion had done. After staring at her friends for a few seconds she slowly turned to see what they were looking at.

Standing before her was the tall, dark and mysterious woman from the bar the other night.

Sarah would have been happy to see anyone who looked to be on their side simply due to the elation of escaping the fight. But to see Khepri standing there like some goddess out of a comic book made her heart beat so fast she thought it was going to thump right out of her chest.

Khepri let a small smile grow on her face and moved closer to her, lifting her hand to softly touch the side of Sarah's bruised face.

"You just can't stay out of trouble can you?" She asked.

"I aim to misbehave." Sarah said, brandishing her best Malcom Reynolds' smile.

They both stood there for a few seconds just looking happy to see one another.

"Um, I'm sure that we're about to witness a touching reunion, but I think you guys should save it till we get back to the camp." Anthony said. "Being that we're targeted as prey by strange creatures and all."

"Right." Sarah said, addressing the group. "Everyone, this is Khepri. Khepri, this is everyone. Khepri's a friend from back in town, and this group of drunks call themselves Amazons. Let's go."

After the quick introduction they all headed back to the gates with a little extra speed in their steps. Once in front of the gate, however, Khepri hesitated.

"What's wrong?" Sarah asked, causing the rest of the group to turn and see what she was talking about.

"Nothing, it's just that I don't want to just invite myself over to stay in the camp." She said. "I wouldn't want to seem rude."

Sarah shook her head and smirked before taking the woman's hand and dragging her toward the gate once more. "I'm officially inviting you, now get your ass in here before we leave this thing open long enough for one of those baddies to get in."

With the invite in tow, Khepri followed the girl inside the camp. "No, we certainly wouldn't want that to happen." She said with an undetectable chuckle.

Varia buried her hands in Eve's long, dark hair as the messenger quickened the pace of her tongue. She could feel Varia getting closer as she held on tighter to the muscular thigh that was draped over her right shoulder.

A litany of incoherent phrases escaped the Queen's lips as Eve took her to heights she never thought possible on an initial sexual encounter. Once the peak of the orgasm washed over her, Eve lovingly eased her back down and simply reveled in some sort of symbiotic euphoria. She was then guided back up to the Queen's arms as she kissed her way up to lips that were working hard just to breathe.

"That was amazing." Varia said breathlessly between kisses. She was rewarded with a smile from Eve and she turned the girl onto her back before sliding on top of her. "Is there anything you don't do well?" She asked.

With small giggle the messenger answered. "Umm, I'm terrible at dice." Which rendered a chuckle from the Queen.

"Well the gods chose well when they sacrificed your luck with games of chance to enhance your… oral skills." She kissed her soundly then moved back to look in her eyes and stroke her face. "I want you, Eve."

And with that being said she took her time moving a hand down a graceful neck, along the side of a soft breast, across a flat stomach and finally into the warm, wet apex of the Messenger's legs. Eve's breath caught as Varia's fingers made contact with her center and her eyes closed in ecstasy.

"I've wanted you to touch me like this for so long." Eve rasped.

"The feeling is more than mutual." Varia said as she softly stroked Eve and bent down to kiss her throat.

She built her up with slow, deliberate caresses. Taking her time and enjoying every movement and sound that came from Eve's body.

"You're so responsive." She said once she started to pick up the pace. Eve's hands started to clutch at her back.

"I want to feel you inside me, Varia." Eve whispered into the Queen's ear.

Varia pulled back to watch Eve's face before slowly slipping inside. It was then she found out about something else Eve might not be so good at: maintaining some kind of volume level that wouldn't wake the entire camp.

"By the god of Eli, yes! Oh, please… don't stop!"

The screams that were emanating from the Queen's hut when Zoe and the rest of the group showed up forced them all to stare on and try not to giggle too loud. They'd wanted to give Varia an update on the situation in the woods, but decided that now was probably not the best time to barge in.

"It's gotta be difficult to spit out that whole 'god of Eli' line while in the throes of passion." Sarah joked quietly. "Eve really is showing off her dedication here by not just defaulting to any other god with a one syllable name. I'm impressed."

"Oh yeah! Right there!" The muffled voice persisted in ringing through.

"I'm thinking the Queen might be the one to be impressed with this time around." Zoe said as more moans and grunts made their way past the door.

"You know this whole 'monsters in the woods' thing can probably wait till morning." Anthony said. "How bout we all head to our huts and give them some privacy."

"Aw, you ruin all the fun." Rah said in a mock pout as they all started to walk away from the hut.

"Don't worry; I'm pretty sure we'll be able to at least hear the grand finale of this little show no matter where we are in camp." Meg joked.

"Speaking of which, where am I staying?" Sarah asked.

"Oh, I got to be in charge of that." Meg said. "We had all of your things moved to the visitors hut near the back of the camp. I'd assumed you would be sharing it with Eve, but I guess now you and Khepri can take it."

"That works." Sarah said, with a yawn.

"It only has one bed, but it should be big enough for the both of you." Meg added.

Sarah immediately looked at Khepri, whose eyes were already waiting. She tried to say something, but the words just wouldn't come out.

"Is that ok, Sarah?" She asked. "Do you mind sharing a bed with me?"

Sarah swallowed hard then answered.

"Mind?" She snickered nervously. "Of course not, why would I mind?"

_Because I'm completely attracted to you and don't want to complicate my life anymore by sleeping with you in a in the non-unconscious sense. _She thought to herself.

"Good." Khepri said with a smile as she took Sarah's arm in the direction of their hut. "I hope you don't snore." She finished with a wink.

Sarah simply smiled and continued toward the destination.

_And here I was thinking this night couldn't possibly get any longer._

To be continued…


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 – Murphy's Law

"Just five more minutes, Aunt Jan." Sarah said to the knock at the door.

Her response was followed by a light giggle coming from the woman to her left and her head quickly shot up from its home in the pillow. It took her a few seconds to take in her surroundings and remember where she was, but the cool blue eyes staring back at her were a welcome sight. One corner of her mouth perked up and she was about to issue her bedmate a soft good morning, but another knock on the door ensued and this time it was followed by a familiar male voice.

"Sarah, they're about to start serving breakfast. You need to hurry if you don't want to miss it." Anthony called from the other side of the door.

"I'll meet you over there shortly, Anthony. Thanks for the heads up." She yelled back and let her head fall into the soft pillow one last time.

She burrowed into it for a few seconds as she tried to ease the mild hangover she knew she deserved from her exploits last night.

"How's the head?" Khepri asked with a slight tinge of entertainment.

Sarah pulled her head back up and looked sleepily at the other woman. "I've had worse. Did you sleep ok?"

She was answered with another chuckle as before looking down to speak. "You snore."

"Ah, so I've been told." Sarah said as she turned over onto her back and wiped the sleep from her eyes. "I'm really sorry." She looked back to Khepri. "Did you get any sleep at all?"

"I'll be just fine." The warrior said as she smiled back at her. "How many times?" She asked

"Huh?" Sarah asked, confused.

"How many times have you been told that you snore?" Khepri elaborated then joked. "Do you often just allow strangers into your bed?"

"Oh!" Sarah sat up, a bit embarrassed. "Um, no. I've just had to bunk up with a lot of people. You know, because I travel and all. It's just a lot more economically efficient to get one room instead of two. I'm not like this huge slut bomb or anything."

Khepri laughed at her hurried explanation and Sarah's eyes narrowed as she caught on.

"And you're giving me a hard time." She said, before raising up to grab her pillow and softly smacked her with it.

A small pillow fight ensued before the two women decided that they'd better hurry if they wanted to make it in time for breakfast. They dressed quickly and moved toward the dining room. All Sarah could think about was the cup of coffee she so desperately needed and could not have. Khepri, however, had plenty on her mind.

_She knows how to kill the vampires. How could she possibly know how to kill them? No one has figured it out yet, they keep coming after them with those ridiculous dryad bones, yet she knows. Where did she find out about the wood? And how much more does she know? _Khepri thought as she took a quick look at the girl while they walked to breakfast. _She seems so young and foolish. Surely she won't pose too much of a threat._

"You ok?" Sarah asked, noticing how quiet she was being.

"Yeah." Khepri said, withdrawing from her reverie. "Just a little worried about those things from last night. When I walked up and saw you fighting them I noticed that they can't be killed by normal means. How did you know what to do?"

"It's a long story." Sarah said, still not quite sure what kind of story she was going to make up. "I'm gonna hold a meeting later and explain everything."

"Ok." Khepri said, disappointment tinting her tone. It didn't go unnoticed by Sarah, who took it to be fear.

"Don't worry, I'll keep you safe." She said, touching her back. "I'm a lot more resilient than I look."

Khepri forced a smile. "I trust you."

What was ironic was that she meant it. She did feel that she could trust Sarah, and she needed to make sure that the feeling was mutual.

"We'll watch each other's backs." She told the girl before opening the door to the dining hall.

Once they'd secured a plate of lack luster food they moved toward the hail they were receiving from Zoe's group. Sarah took a seat on the bench next to Anthony, and Khepri sat across from her. The time traveler greeted everyone then immediately started to inhale her food just like most of the table's occupants. Rah and Khepri were the only ones not eating. The Amazon was staring at her plate trying to work up the courage to take a bite and not throw up. The newcomer was simply pushing her food around her plate.

"Not hungry, Rah?" Sarah asked, looking up from her plate.

Her only answer was tightly clenched jaw that shook from side to side.

"I'll take your food if you don't want it." Anthony said with a mouthful.

Rah simply stared on at the plate and tried to keep her stomach in check, so Meg grabbed the it and passed it after taking the small slice of bread off of it. She handed the plate to Anthony and put the bread in front of Rah.

"Work on building up the courage for that." She said. "It may be a little less intimidating."

"Speaking of intimidating," Zoe said. "What the hell are we gonna do about those things in the woods?"

Everyone's head whipped over to Sarah, whose mouth was stuffed. She looked up and chewed quickly before swallowing.

"Um…" She shifted her eyes from the plate to different people in the group. "Well, I need to talk to Varia about that first, but I guess a good starting point would be to start fashioning some wooden stakes. It's a sure fire way to kill them, and everyone should probably start carrying one around."

Before the last word even exited her mouth the entire table, minus Khepri, brandished said stakes.

"Ooookaaay." Sarah said, wide eyed. "Guess you guys have that covered. So now, I just need to talk to Varia about a possible plan of attack. I still can't believe all this 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' bullshit."

Khepri had to suppress a growl as Sarah spoke. The situation was even more dire than she'd thought, but she masked her concerns with a renewed interest in pushing her food around.

"Speaking of which, where are Varia and Eve?" Sarah asked.

Anthony chuckled then answered. "I'm pretty sure they decided to skip breakfast this morning."

Sun started to shine through the windows of the Queen's hut and landed first on the face of the naked Messenger who was half resting on the Amazon's dozing form. Eve's eyes fluttered open and as consciousness started to wash over her so did memories of the night before. She slowly propped herself up on her elbow, being careful not to wake the sleeping woman at her side.

As she took in the strong features on Varia's face she couldn't help but smile softly at the Queen's beauty. How many times had she wondered what it would be like to wake up exactly like this? And how would Varia feel when she awoke as well?

_Last night was one of the most beautiful nights of my life. _She thought, forcing herself not to lean down and kiss the object of her affection. _I don't want to give this up. Eli, please just let me have this. I never knew I was capable of giving and receiving such love. I don't want to lose it._

She didn't even realize that her hand had made its way up to stroke a strong cheekbone until sleepy brown eyes were revealed to her, then softened with the smile that followed. Varia reached up to pull Eve's lips closer to her own. The messenger obliged eagerly and issued a soft, lazy series of kisses upon the Queen; who, in turn, buried both of her hands in dark locks and raised a knee against the legs that were already wrapped around it. Eve pulled away slightly and gasped before resting her forehead against that of her lover.

"Good morning." Varia said sweetly as she nipped at the lips above her one more time.

"It certainly is." Eve replied as she looked deeply into eyes she wanted to get lost in for days. "I can't believe I'm waking up in your arms."

"I feel the same way." Varia said, stroking her back. "Is that a good thing?" She said, referring to the arrangement.

_Please say it's a good thing. _She thought. _Don't get spooked now, Eve. I don't want to lose this._

Eve softly stroked her face and let a smile take over her face. "I don't think I can care anymore about whether being with you is good or bad. I want it so badly that it just seems like there's no going back… For me at least."

The last line gave away her insecurities, but they were quickly discarded and she was rolled on her back and covered by the object of her affection.

"I'm not going anywhere, Eve." Varia said, as she mimicked Eve's actions and stroked the soft skin of her face. "I don't have any regrets at all about last night. I want to be with you for as long as you'll let me."

Eve's heart was nearly bursting with happiness. She'd never felt anything so overwhelmingly wonderful in her life.

"I love you." She said, before guiding Varia's lips back to her own.

As she raised her own leg it was the Queen's turn to gasp before establishing a rhythm she'd learned quite well the night before. She reached down to grasp at the outside of a silky thigh before dropping her lips to the woman's neck. Eve was more than willing to lean her head back to provide better access, but as she started to moan softly in pleasure, a knock at the door halted the Queen's actions.

"Who is it?" Varia asked with obvious annoyance coloring her tone.

"I've brought you and your guest breakfast, my Queen." Said the Amazon on the other side of the door.

"Leave it." Varia answered, looking back to Eve. "I don't know about you, but food is a little low on my 'to do' list right now."

"Oh yeah?" Eve said with a smile. "And what is taking priority right now?"

"Well there's this..." The Queen answered before leaning in to suckle and nip at an earlobe.

"And then there's this..." She said, moving down to lick the hollow of her throat.

"And we certainly can't forget about this…" She then made a torturous trek down to her breast as Eve's head slammed back into the pillow with a sharp intake of air.

She didn't know exactly how much Varia planned to get done before they ventured out of bed for breakfast, but she knew that the food would also have to wait till they'd finished with the Messenger's newly made list of things to do.

Once the meal was over in the dining hall the group split up to take on their tasks for the day. Anthony decided to go ahead with his research without Eve's help and the girls had a party to clean up after, which left Sarah and Khepri up to their own devices. They walked around the camp and talked to pass the time.

"So are you going to be staying here for a while, or do you have to get back to your home soon?" Sarah asked.

"Well, I was thinking that I would probably stay here if they allow me to." Khepri answered. "The woods don't seem very safe right now, and I would be happy to help out the Amazon's with any kind of defense they decide to mount."

"I'm sure they'd welcome the help." Sarah said, partially excited that she wanted to stay. "But if you wanted to leave I could escort you. It'll be safe to travel in the day."

_So she does know more._ Khepri thought.

"How can you be so sure?" She asked, trying to get more information.

"Well, if I'm right, the bad guys shouldn't be able to come out in the day time." Sarah answered.

"What are they?" The warrior asked.

"In the stories I've heard they're called vampires." The time traveler answered.

"What stories? Where did you hear them?" Khepri asked.

"I travel a lot." Sarah said, trying to remain vague. "Somewhere along the way I heard some legends about what I thought were mythical creatures. I was obviously wrong about the mythical part."

"What else do you know about them?"

_How is it possible that she's heard stories about vampires? _Khepri thought. They had been very careful to keep their pack small and secret.

"I'm not sure how much is true, but there should be at least three ways to kill them: Sunlight, beheading, and a wooden stake through the heart. We know the last method works, now we just have to figure out the truth behind the rest of the possibilities."

"How can you be sure that there are more of them?" Khepri asked.

"I'm not." Sarah said. "But I'd rather be safe than sorry. Otherwise the Amazons will always be confined to the camp at night, and that's not a good thing."

"No, it's not." Was the tense reply.

"Sarah!"

Both women turned their heads to see Zoe calling them over.

"Eve and the Queen have come out of hiding for a bit." She said once they arrived. "I think we should probably let them in on what's going on."

"Right." Sarah said as they headed to Queen's hut.

_They totally did it last night. _Sarah thought to herself as soon as she entered the hut.

Though Varia's bed was made and both women looked to have bathed before the meeting, the smell of sex still lingered in the air. Even if it didn't, both of their faces were damn near glowing. Sarah had never seen Eve smile that much. She tried to keep a straight face so that they could at least discuss the dangerous situation brewing just outside the village gates, but that was going to be easier said than done. Luckily Varia went into leader mode once they were all inside and the mood became more serious.

"Anthony tells me that there was some trouble in the woods last night, and that we probably aren't dealing with simple thieves out there. Would somebody like to give me an explanation as to exactly why any of you were outside the gates last night?"

All of the Amazons immediately started speaking at the same time, trying to cover for themselves and each other. Zoe seemed to come up with a sleepwalking story, Meg insisted there was a bug problem, Anthony asserted that they'd heard noises, and Rah settled on bodily functions.

A sharp whistle came from behind them and they all looked to Sarah who stepped in front.

"The events that led us outside the gates last night really aren't as important as what we found." She said to the Queen.

"Really?" Varia said with a head tilt. "You must forgive me, I was under the impression that I was the queen of this tribe, and that my questions concerning their welfare were all very important."

_Fucking Amazons._ Sarah thought as she gritted her teeth. When she glanced over at Eve the woman's eyes were very obviously pleading with her to be more respectful. She then swallowed hard and proceeded.

"Please forgive my arrogance, your highness." She said with a slight bow. "You are absolutely right; I simply got ahead of myself."

Varia nodded in acceptance then signaled for her to continue.

"You see it was my fault that your subjects were out last night." She said and noticed a small intake of breath coming from one of the Amazons behind her. "I had a little too much liquid courage and decided to head out to the woods to see if I could put an end to your problem myself. If it weren't for Khepri and your subjects, I can't even begin to think what would have happened."

"Speaking of which, who is this woman and what is she doing here?" Varia asked and Khepri stepped forward.

"I'm sorry, Queen Varia." She said. "It was not my intention to trespass on your land, I was simply travelling through and I came upon the fight in the woods."

"It's not exactly safe to travel at night." Eve said. "What were you doing out there so late?"

Sarah shot her a look that had daggers in it. Eve obviously still didn't trust Khepri.

"It's embarrassing to say this," The warrior started. "But I got a little lost out there, and I had to double back several times. Luckily I was able to find Sarah and her friends in time to help out a little."

"Yeah, she killed one of them." Sarah said pointedly in Eve's direction and the sentiment didn't go unnoticed by Khepri.

"That's very convenient." Eve countered, still not buying it.

_The little non-violent one is going to be difficult. _Khepri thought to herself.

"Listen, if my being here is a problem I can leave right away. I only wanted to stay to help you all." She said as sincerely as possible.

Both Varia and Sarah looked to Eve for approval. The Messenger knew that if she went against Sarah on this it would make things tense between them, but there was just something about the outsider that she didn't trust. Every time Khepri was around Eve had this awful feeling rise up her spine.

"Eve?" Varia finally asked. "Do you have any objections?"

"No!" Eve said quickly, embarrassed that she'd paused long enough to be noticed. "No, I'm sorry, I think I'm just tired from the journey and I guess it's making me a little paranoid."

"Then it's settled." Sarah said. "Khepri stays."

Sarah was going to leave it at that, but immaturity got the better of her and she opted for a low blow and a smirk to embarrass Eve. "And since you've obviously already secured other accommodations she can continue to bunk up with me."

Eve's eyes went wide and Meg didn't manage to get her hand to her mouth quick enough to catch the first hiccup of a belly laugh that was threatening to erupt. Khepri allowed a mischievous grin to cover her face as she looked at Sarah with greater interest. The girl was feisty and fearless; these were traits she found incredibly desirable in women. Varia glared at the young time traveler for a moment, but could not muster a retort as her claims were accurate. Instead she chose to chastise her and change the subject.

"Let's move along and work out the details of the outside threat before your mouth gets you into anymore trouble, foreigner." She said, standing and resting her hands on her desk. "You may not be an Amazon, but you are still on my land and must obey my will."

Sarah stared on stone faced at Varia and nodded her head. She moved to the side so she could look between both groups.

"In my travels I've heard stories about very powerful, soulless creatures who feed on the blood of humans; they're called vampires and they are obviously very dangerous. Now, I don't know the exact history of the vampire, but I think I know enough to help us kill them." She started to pace between the two groups as she spoke. "The most important thing we can do right now is make sure they shrink in number instead of grow, and the way we do that is to not get bitten. I've seen a lot of different mov… myths about how a person is turned into one of them. Sometimes it just takes a bite, sometimes you have to drink their blood, but whatever the method really is I think we can all agree that getting bitten should be the number one thing we guard against."

As Khepri listened the hair on the back of her neck started to stand up and she grew more and more uneasy. This girl knew plenty of information about her minions and she still had more to go.

"Now, these motherfuckers are tough." Sarah continued. "We saw last night that they have incredible strength, speed and not to mention a vicious immunity to being stabbed. But there are ways to kill them. Any kind of wooden object through the heart will do it; we know that for sure. But there are also rumors about sunlight and beheading working against them too. We can make stakes, shoot arrows, and swing swords in an effort to fight them manually. Now the hand held weapons will be great for self defense, but where I come from we have a saying: the best defense is a good offense. Our greatest weapon is the one we can't control: the sun. And even though we don't have the power to control it, I think we can manipulate it."

Khepri's eyes were growing wide as Sarah continued. This was much worse than she thought. If this girl found a way to manipulate sunlight she could destroy everything she and her brother had worked so hard to create. Her strategy would have to change, and now she would have to find a way to leave camp and warn the others. The only thing she was grateful for was the fact that at least now she would have a head start on mobilization now that she was being told the plan.

"Xena and Gabrielle once used mirrors to flash sunlight into the eyes of a giant so that he would remove his helmet and reveal his weakness. And barring any rain in the near future, we can use the same tactics. All we have to do is find their nest, round up the mirrors and set them up to shoot the sunlight into their hole. Then poof! No more vampires, no more dead Amazons."

"How long do you think it will take to scout out their location?" Varia asked.

"A few days, maybe a week tops." Sarah said. "We could probably just start out where we were attacked last night and try to follow their tracks from there. One of the vamps was fairly large; he should have left some nice boot prints on the ground."

"How do you know they won't try to attack us in the mean time?" Eve asked.

"Well they haven't tried it so far, which makes me believe another rumor about their species: for some reason they can't go into someone else's home without being invited. Because your village is enclosed by a gate, those rules may apply."

"So at least we'll be safe if we stay inside during the night." Zoe asserted.

"Exactly." Sarah said.

"Good, that'll give us time to send some sisters to town to buy some mirrors." Varia said.

"You don't have any mirrors in the village?" Sara asked incredulously.

"We're Amazons not priestesses of Aphrodite's temple." Varia said matter of factly. "Vanity is not looked upon highly in our culture."

"Right." Sarah said, sarcastically. _Because it sure isn't vain to walk around in leather miniskirts and tube tops all day. _ She thought. "So, anyway, we should have everything we need to do this within a week."

"That sounds about right." Varia said, standing up straight. "In an effort to keep any possible panic from breaking out in the village I want to keep things as quiet as possible, so I'd appreciate it if this conversation did not leave this room until we're prepared to attack."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"I want you all to start searching as soon as possible." The Queen ordered. "Take whatever weapons or supplies you need. This mission is going to be our top priority; I'll have a meeting with the elders to discuss it. Sarah, I'm putting you in charge since you seem to know the most about these creatures."

Sarah nodded with confidence. Keeping everyone safe for this mission should be simple and she was more than willing to take command of the group when she didn't really expect any casualties.

"I'll want a full report at the end of each day to monitor your progress." The Queen said.

"Not a problem." She said.

"Good, then you're all dismissed. Get started." Varia said, and they all headed out the door.

"Sarah." Eve called and Sarah turned. "Can I speak with you for a moment?"

The time traveler nodded her head and followed Eve out of the hut to take a walk. They were both quiet at first, but Eve finally worked up the courage to start the dialogue.

"Look, Sarah, I know you like Khepri, but you have got to be careful. You can't just trust every single pretty face that comes along." She said.

Sarah was fuming. She couldn't believe Eve was still pushing this point with no more proof than her 'feelings'. Her tone suggested her distaste for the conversation.

"You really need to drop this Eve. Last I checked, you were sleeping with someone who has tried her damndest to kill you, and I shared a bunk with someone who tried to save my life. Which one of us is being more irrational here?" She asked venomously.

"Oh, don't give me that…that…" She searched for one of Sarah's words. "… That cock shit. You don't think Varia is a threat, you're just trying to embarrass me so I'll shut up."

"Ok, first of all it's bullshit, not cock shit." Sarah said, stopping to explain. "And second of all, you're right; I don't have a problem with you and Varia. What I have a problem with is you not trusting my judgment. This is my life, Eve. You can't stop me from living it just because you have a strange feeling."

"It's not just your life we're talking about here, Sarah." Eve said forcefully. "You are making friends here and they don't have your little gift of immortality. They can still get hurt."

"They're trained fighters, Eve!" Sarah argued. "Most of them are better than me. Plus they almost always travel in groups. I don't think one little warrior, that hasn't shown any interest in harming anyone, is going to pose that much of a threat."

Eve sighed. She was having trouble winning the argument and she was starting to realize that it was because Sarah was right. She had no proof that Khepri was dangerous; in fact, all signs pointed in the opposite direction. Sarah noticed that Eve was retreating and decided to give her a break instead of going in for the kill.

"Look, Eve," She said, placing her hands on the Messenger's shoulders. "I just met the girl. I honestly don't even know how much I trust her, but she's given me no reason to believe that she's bad news. I just…there's something about her. I'm drawn to her for some reason that I can't explain." She sighed and dropped her arms. "But since I know that you are worried about it, I'll make sure to keep an eye on her and see that she doesn't go off alone with any of the Amazons."

"I want you to watch your own back too." Eve persisted.

"As physically impossible as that is, I'll put forth my best effort." Sarah conceded. "Are we cool now?"

Eve thought for a moment then nodded her head.

"Good, then I'll see you at dinner. I've got some vampire slaying to start planning out." She said and started to walk away.

She then thought of something and stopped abruptly to turn towards Eve.

"Oh, and you can thank me later for hooking you up with Varia." She said quickly, and then proceeded in her previous direction.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Eve asked, but was met with silence. "Did you tell her to come talk to me?" Still no answer.

Eve smiled to herself. "I think I have a wingman." She said softly before heading back to Varia's hut.

Sarah decided to hold their vampire meetings in Zoe's hut after the Amazon kindly offered it up. It was somewhat cramped with all six of them in there, but they did have a table and enough privacy to suit their current needs. The first thing they would need to do would be to secure swords and stakes for everyone. They would then split up into three groups of two to cover more ground: Zoe and Meg, Rah and Anthony, and Sarah and Khepri. Then it was off to the woods for an initial inspection. Once all plans were presented they headed out to get their weapons.

Upon entering the armory they were all greeted by the weapon's master.

"Hey, here come the party monsters." She said jokingly to the woman to her right. "What's going on, guys? Who are your friends?"

"Sarah and Khepri, meet Andromeda the weapon's master…" Anthony said, gesturing toward the woman who'd greeted them. "…and Andromeda the tailor." He then pointed to the other Amazon in the room.

"You can call me Andy for short." The weapon's master said as she offered up a hand to both Sarah and Khepri.

"Yeah, it get's confusing otherwise." The tailor said, taking their hands as well. "Plus it helps out in the bedroom. Calling out your own name can seem a little narcissistic."

Andy's eyes shot daggers at the tailor and Sarah laughed.

Andy spoke with a calming tone that, in her own time, would have led Sarah to believe she was either a surfer or a musician. Andromeda was the polar opposite. She gave off a feisty and fun vibe that was something the time traveler looked for in her friends.

"Are you always this blunt or are you just trying to make sure to claim your territory?" The time traveler joked as she took Andromeda's hand.

"She's just always this blunt." Andy said with a smile. "I'm surprised she hasn't started in on your clothing preferences yet."

"I was gonna wait till after the introductions, but before any weapon requests were approved." Andromeda said. "Thanks for setting me up with a segue, baby."

"Sarah, I offer you my condolences." Andy said with a smile.

Sarah chuckled at the interaction between the two, and then spoke. "Looking around the camp, I'm sure you could do wonders for my wardrobe, but I think I'll stick with the digs I've got for now."

"We'll see how long that lasts." Was the reply.

"So, what can I help you all with today?" Andy asked, changing the subject.

"We get to play with the swords!" Rah said with a huge smile on her face.

"The Queen should have given you permission to suit us up with a few weapons." Anthony explained.

"She did." Andy replied, moving toward her stores of both swords and sheaths. "Said you guys were on some kind of super secret mission. Must be exciting."

"It looks to be." Sarah replied as she was handed both sword and sheath.

It was a typical Amazonian sword with the crescent like guard and short blade, but it was heavier than it looked. As she secured the belt around her waist she noticed a small problem with keeping her cargo pants up. She knew she'd lost a few pounds since she'd been away from fried food for so long, but her belts had been helping with the sag before. She didn't think they would do much good against the weight of the sword.

"Looks like you're having a little trouble there." Andromeda said, moving closer to Sarah. "You know a pair of pants that fit might stay up better."

"They're fine." Sarah said, as she started to demonstrate her point by walking around.

As if my some ironic kind of magic the pants started to slip and she was barely able to catch them before they fell to her knees. Andromeda simply stared at her in victory.

"Ok, one pair of pants." Sarah said, divesting herself of the sword. "But you come near me with any of those short skirts we're gonna have a problem."

Andromeda smiled and put an arm around Sarah as she led her into the other room. "Oh don't worry, I think I've got a pair of pants that will fit you perfectly, and the leather top that goes with them will really show off those breasts you're trying to hide under that hideous thing you call a shirt."

"Hey, I didn't say anything about a top." Sarah's voice could barely be heard by the group as she moved further into the room.

"Sarah, it's best to just let her do her thing." Andy yelled toward them. "Arguing only makes the process take longer."

The rest of the group chuckled as they checked out their swords and waited for their team leader to re-emerge. It was Khepri who caught a glimpse of her first. She nearly dropped her sword as she looked the girl up and down.

"See, it's not so bad now is it?" Andromeda asked facetiously.

Sarah looked at her new attire and was actually somewhat impressed. The leather pants were low rise and snug enough in the waist and butt to keep from falling down, and then frayed at the bottom. The top was more like a leather vest that hugged her curves and dipped low in the chest. It was a bit of a compromise, seeing as how Andromeda had preferred a much more revealing option and Sarah wanted even more fabric, but in the end they worked it out.

"So what do you guys think?" She asked, nervously.

Meg whistled, Rah offered up a smile and thumbs up and Zoe just giggled about how uncomfortable Sarah looked.

"Well, it definitely helps the sword stay up better." Anthony said before mumbling to the group. "Among other things."

Sarah smirked and nodded her head, knowing she'd only allow the jokes to go on for a few more minutes. She then looked to Khepri who had not said anything, yet her opinion mattered more to Sarah. She walked up closer to her and held her hands out a bit.

"C'mon. Take a shot." She said. "Any latter infractions are gonna be met with a mild slap to the wrist."

Something was happening inside Khepri that she hadn't felt in years. _She _was nervous. Not to mention at a loss for words. Sarah had been cute before, and mildly interesting. Now she was down-right sexy; and the confidence that she was having to build up made her even more so.

"You…Uh…" She struggled and noticed that everyone was staring at her.

Noticing the tension, Andy decided to pipe in.

"Well I think she looks great." She pulled Andromeda closer to her. "Nice job, babe."

Sarah continued to stare at Khepri for a few seconds and then shrugged her need to know what the other woman was thinking and returned her attention to the rest of the group.

"Ok, it looks like we've got everything we need and probably about three more hours of daylight left. I say we start off into the woods for a little recon."

Everyone voiced their approval and then thanked both Andromedas for their help.

"So how long you think it'll take those two to work up the courage and get it over with?" Andy asked Andromeda once the group was out of earshot.

"Depends on how much ceremonial wine Zoe has left from the party last night." Was the casual response.

Once the group had made it to the scene of all of last night's action they became a little disheartened. The ground was not as soft as they'd hoped and the tracks were either not visible, or easily confused with those of the Amazons.

"God I hate tracking." Zoe said.

"Yep." Meg answered.

They were all standing around scratching their heads and trying to make heads or tails of what was going on. Sarah crouched down to move some of the leaves away in hopes that a solid trail might magically appear. When it didn't she sighed and stood up.

"Well it looks like we're gonna have to do this the 'even harder' way and simply go off in different directions hoping to find something." She saw the rest of the group nodding their heads and then continued. "Just keep your eyes open for anything that might be helpful and remember that we're not going into any caves or crevices today. Everybody good?"

She was met with affirmative responses.

"Ok then. I guess just pick a direction and go." She said.

After they left, Sarah turned around to face Khepri.

"You ready?" She asked, looking at a severely rudimentary map Anthony had given her.

"When you are." Khepri said with a smile.

"Great." Sarah said, putting the map away. "I guess we're off."

As they made their way through the woods there was an odd silence permeating the air. Sarah couldn't stand silence when someone else was around; it was uncomfortable. So she simply threw out the first thing she could think of.

"So do you often just offer your services to villages in need?" She asked.

"I help out where I can." Khepri answered. _If eating a few highway thugs is what you would call 'helping out.' _She thought. "What about you. I mean I know you get around a lot with all of your travels, but do you travel just so you can help people?"

"Not originally." Sarah answered. "But lately it just kinda seems like those are the situations I keep getting myself into."

She stopped check out a piece of cloth on the ground, giving Khepri a perfect view of her back. It was then that she noticed the scratch marks peeking out on the skin of Sarah's shoulder. They were fairly new; healed, but not completely. She gasped thinking about the pain that would have accompanied them. The time traveler heard this and stood back up to see what was going on.

"What's up?" She asked, moving closer to Khepri and looking around. "You ok?"

"Yeah, I just saw those scars on your back and…What happened?" She asked, not knowing how much her prying would be appreciated.

"Oh, that's what I came out of the tiger fight with." She said casually before ushering them to continue on their way. "I know it's pretty bad looking, but it doesn't hurt anymore."

"Wait, you mean that whole story was true?" Khepri asked.

Sarah looked over and smiled at her. "Of course. Did you think I was making it all up to impress you or something?"

"Well… yeah." Khepri answered.

"Did it work?" Sarah asked.

"Not till now." Khepri answered honestly. "You must be incredibly brave."

This time Sarah looked down at the ground and answered. "No, I'm really not. And if you've figured anything out about me at this point it should be that I'm not humble either, so you know I'm telling the truth. I just did what I had to do in order to save Eve."

"Hmm." Khepri replied with disdain. The mere mention of the Messenger's name was now making her irritated.

"Guess you're not her biggest fan right now, huh?" Sarah asked, picking up on her tone.

"She has every right to be suspicious of me." Khepri said. _Really has every right._

"She's just had a lot of experiences in her life. Sometimes they start creeping back up on her and make her paranoid. It's nothing personal, I promise."

_It will be when my fangs are ripping through her throat._ Khepri thought.

"I'm choosing not to take it that way." She said. "What about you? Do you think I'm this evil beast that's out to get you?"

Sarah chuckled. "No, not at all. I know it's weird, but for some reason I actually feel really safe with you."

Khepri felt a sense of shame clutch at her heart. _You won't even see it coming, will you Sarah? So trusting. I'll make it quick with you; make sure the others don't get to you first. _A rustling in the bushes brought her out of her string of thoughts.

"I hope it stays that way because I think someone's out there." She said.

"Shit, how far away?" Sarah said looking around and bracing herself.

"I don't know, but he's coming up fast." Khepri drew her sword as did Sarah.

"Get behind that tree and stay there." Sarah said, pointing to the side and moving behind one of her own across from Khepri. "Don't move unless I tell you to run."

"I'm not going to let you fight him on your own." She said sternly.

"We don't have time to argue about this, now just do as I say!"

Both women shut up and listened for the approach. It was a man on horseback and he was slowing down. His horse came to a full stop just a few feet away from the trees.

"Too late to hide, Amazons. I already saw you and I don't plan on this taking too long." The man said as he dismounted and drew his sword. He wasn't very large, but he did look strong; and his words led Sarah to believe that he was either very good in a fight, or extremely arrogant.

"Now, one of you is coming with me. You can decide amongst yourselves who it's gonna be, or you can make it difficult and fight me and possibly both end up dead." He said calmly.

Sarah emerged from the tree and twirled her sword. Though their attacker's words were threatening, his tone was more matter of fact; as if to say 'nothing personal.' It would have been charming had he not been planning to kidnap them.

"I think I'll go for door number three." She said taking a defensive stance. "That's the one where you get neither of us, and I decide at the end of the fight if I'm pissed off enough to kill you or leave you tied to a tree to face the demons of the night."

He answered her with a laugh. "I love Amazons. You're kind puts up a fight the entire time. There's just something about that fact that really drives up your prices in the body slave market."

"Khepri run." Sarah said, cursing her when she stayed put.

"I'll try not to mess up your face too much." He said as he gripped his sword with both hands.

"It's always smart to protect your investments." Sarah said as she moved in and swung hard.

Khepri moved from behind the tree, but did not run away as she'd been told. Instead she watched intent on jumping in the second she thought Sarah couldn't defend herself. What caught her off guard was the fact that the young time traveler really wasn't all that good to begin with. She left openings all over the place then somehow avoided falling victim to them at the last moment. The only advantage she really had was the fact that the man wished to take her un-harmed. Should he choose to switch tactics, Sarah would be in trouble. It was ironic that just as this thought crossed her mind the attacker chose a more lethal approach.

"You know I may very well have sold you over to the slavers, and then helped you escape just to stick it to the bastards, but now you've pissed me off." He said, slightly out of breath, when Sarah had divested him of his sword. "So I figure I'm just gonna have to kill you and take the pretty, tall girl." He drew a knife.

"Well it is the thought that counts." Sarah said, dodging his strikes.

The knife swished and whizzed through the air as the fight grew more intense. Sarah was breaking a sweat and the man's eyes shown with laughter.

"Khepri, do not interfere!" Sarah yelled as she dodged yet another lethal strike. "I told you to run; go get help!"

"I can't just leave you here." She yelled back.

"Fuckin women; they never listen." The man joked.

Sarah would have laughed, but she finally saw an opening and took advantage of it. He was just about to swing hard at her head and if she timed it just right she could parry around him and swing low enough to catch his calf. The problem was she closed her eyes when attempting this move and, though it did work, her attacker acted as if he felt nothing and recovered quickly enough to stab straight into her stomach.

Though she was surprised, she'd grown so accustom to these moments that she too recovered quickly and used his shock against him. She used both hands to bring the hilt of her sword down on his head then quickly grabbed him by the hair and rammed him into a tree for good measure. The man fell with a thud on the ground and Sarah tried to come up with a witty one liner to feed to Khepri. Before it would leave her mouth she saw the look of horror on the other woman's face and notice that her eyes were focused solely on the knife that was still embedded in her gut.

"Shit." She said, looking down at the foreign object then back up at Khepri. "Ok, I know this looks bad."

"Sarah, don't move." Khepri said, moving toward her. "Maybe we still have time to get you help. If you take the knife out now you could bleed to death."

_There is just no getting around this one. _Sarah thought to herself.

"Look, I didn't want to tell you this before…" She said with a sigh.

"Shh, don't talk." Khepri said solemnly as if Sarah was going to delve into some kind of romantic confession. "You need to save your strength. I can carry you back to the village and we can get the doctor."

_Wait, what am I doing? Why am I trying to save her? She's a threat to my people. _Khepri's thoughts were interrupted by Sarah.

"That really won't be necessary." Sarah said as she held out one hand to stop Khepri from picking her up, and used the other to extract the knife.

Khepri gasped and looked on in wonder. The blood that she had expected to come gushing out was nowhere to be seen. She then lifted the shirt to examine the wound, but only found smooth skin. She even touched it just to be sure her eyes were not deceiving her. There was a soft intake of breath from the face above, but no other reaction. Sarah had just been stabbed, yet there was no wound to be found. She looked up into the girl's eyes and saw some form of remorse.

"I told you I wasn't brave." Sarah said, sadly. "It's easy to sacrifice yourself in order to save others when you know you've got nothing to lose."

"But you're back; you have scars from the tiger..." Khepri said, trying to understand.

"I'm only impervious to mortal wounds." Sarah explained. "I can be hurt, I just can't die."

"What are you?" Khepri asked before she could stop herself.

_Apparently I'm a freak. _Sarah thought when she saw the nervousness in Khepri's eyes.

"I'm complicated." Sarah said. "And I know you've got every right to tell the other's about me, but I'd really rather you didn't. I promise I'll tell them at some point, but bringing it up right now might lead them to think I'm some kind of beefed up vampire."

_I'm pretty sure neither of us want that label hanging over our heads. _ Khepri thought.

"I promise I'll keep your secret." Khepri asked, caressing the skin her hand had been resting on. "Does it hurt?"

"Definitely not right now." Sarah said, swallowing hard as the butterflies in her stomach started to flutter in full gear.

Khepri looked into her eyes and moved her free hand up to Sarah's face. Her thumb stroked her cheek gently as she held her eyes.

"I'm glad you're ok." She said, moving her face closer to the girl's. She truly meant it.

"Me too." Sarah said, her eyes moving from cool, blue orbs to moist, soft lips.

Khepri was so close now; Sarah could feel her breath on her lips. She was torturing her with her pace, and just before the time traveler was about to take the reins, a painful moan could be heard coming from behind her. Both women stopped their movements. Khepri looked toward the man behind Sarah, and Sarah looked up to the sky.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me!" She cursed her luck and made her way over to the man's horse. "I'm starting to think this immortality thing comes with some kind of kissing inhibitor." She said softly to herself as she rummaged through his things looking for some rope.

Once she found it she made her way over to him and tied his hands behind his back. He grimaced in pain as she tightened them, and then began to speak.

"Shit, woman, what did you do to me?" He asked.

"Obviously a lot less than I should have done." She said through gritted teeth before lifting him to his feet.

"Didn't I stab you?" He asked.

"His head injury must be causing delusions." Khepri said, with a wink to Sarah.

"Probably so." Sarah said with a knowing smile as she started to push her attacker along. "Of course I would have preferred it caused him to be knocked out for a few more minutes."

"Me too." The warrior said softly, leaning in to Sarah's ear then moving back to grab the horse's lead.

"No! I'm sure of it." He said. "I stabbed you right after you sliced my fuckin calf. Which, now that I mention it, is hurting like a bitch."

"Are you seriously complaining right now?" Sarah asked. "You just tried to kill and kidnap us!"

"Well sure, but that still doesn't change the fact that I'm limping and you are, for some reason, trying to keep me alive and take me back to camp." He said.

"You know he makes a good point." Khepri said as they continued to walk. "Why are we taking him back to camp? He deserves to die for what he tried to do to you."

Sarah sighed and moved over to rip some of the fabric off the prisoner's shirt.

"Because I don't kill people." She said as she tied the cloth around the wound to try to stop the bleeding. "If the Amazons decide to execute him then that's their affair, but I'm just not ready to take a life."

This made the man laugh out loud.

"See that's why yours is the weaker sex." He said. Again with that simple, non-threatening tone. "You bitches just think too much about these things. And don't think I've forgotten about that fucking knife going into your gut and not doing what it was supposed to. I can see the rip in your shirt."

"Do you realize that you've got a lot more important things to worry about?" Sarah said. "Like the fact that you're about to be at the mercy of a bunch of man hating women who now have every right to kill you."

"And I'll cross that bridge when I get to it; right now I want you to tell me about that cast iron stomach you got there." He said.

Khepri pulled her aside and whispered to her.

"He's going to be a problem, Sarah." She said. "If you want to keep your secret, he's gonna have to die. Let me take care of it."

Sarah looked in her eyes and knew she was absolutely serious. She then looked to the object of their conversation and moved closer to him.

"Have you ever done this before?" She asked, seriously.

"What, been beat up by Amazons?" He asked, confused. "Hell, no! I try to stay away from you crazy females."

"Ok, number one, I'm not an Amazon." Sarah said, annoyed. "And number two, I meant have you ever captured people and sold them to slavers?"

"What the hell does that matter?" He asked as if she'd just inquired about the price of eggs in China.

"Jesus Christ, you're driving me crazy." She said, running a hand through her hair. "Just answer the God damn question: have you ever done this before?"

He rolled his eyes then did as he was told.

"No. Some slavers came by my house a couple of weeks ago and they threatened to kill me and burn the place down if I didn't start collecting for them. Being that I like myself and my house, I decided to do what they said. And that's why we're now having this lovely conversation while my boot fills up with blood." He explained with a smile.

"Well it's gonna fill up a whole hell of a lot more unless we get one thing straight right now." She said soberly. "So far you don't have the fact that you stuck a knife in my gut going against you. Keeping that to yourself may end up saving your life in the end; it sure as hell will save it now."

"Well why didn't you just say so?" He replied. "I know how to keep a secret. Now come on, let's go and get me some stitches."

As he limped ahead Sarah looked on in awe then followed him.

"I know this is gonna sound crazy." She said to Khepri. "But for some reason, I actually hope they don't end up killing him."

Khepri looked at her as if she'd grown a third eye.

"Are you sure you didn't hit _your _head back there?" She said, investigating Sarah's skull for herself as they headed back to add yet another complication to a situation that was already out of control.

To be continued…


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 – What a Predicament

"Ow!" The man complained as his wound was stitched on one of the cots in the healer's hut. "Shit, woman, _I_ could do a better job if you'd untie my fuckin hands." Then as an afterthought: "Do you girls drink around here, or is that too much of a man thing?"

Varia sighed at the prisoner as the healer tended to him. He'd done nothing but joke and berate since he'd arrived in camp. She paced back and forth in front of Khepri and Sarah.

"What was your name again?" She asked, losing patience.

"Arsen." He said.

"Arsen, I want you to tell me exactly what you were doing on Amazon territory today." She said.

"Ah Zeus, this again." He growled in frustration. "There's a pretty large group of slavers that came into the area about a month ago. They need slaves. However, they sure are some lazy sons of bitches and don't want to do the work themselves. So they said that if I brought them some slaves I'd get to live and keep my home. Just one more instance in my life where I have to deal with a bunch of shit that has nothing to do with me."

"Why did you choose the Amazons?" She asked, anger tempering her voice.

"Well you're prices have gone up here lately." He explained. "Something about people disappearing in your woods. You've got all the locals thinking you're these super warriors and they don't want to come near you. I can get rid of the slavers twice as fast if I give them Amazons instead of regular people."

"And he would have gotten away with it too if it weren't for those pesky kids." Sarah said, not caring that no one would understand.

"What are the chances of us being attacked again?" She asked, ignoring the girl's comment.

"I'd say pretty good." He answered. "They told me that they wanted at least ten Amazons before they leave to trade and they've only got one so far."

"They have one of our sisters?" She asked; fury in her voice.

"That's what they told me." He said, annoyed he had to say it twice.

"Where is their camp?" Varia said after violently grabbing him by the shirt and dragging him to his feet.

"First of all they don't have a camp, they have a fucking makeshift fortress, and you and your tribe are never gonna get in there from what I've seen of your forces. And second of all, you don't have to do all this macho shit to get me to answer your questions. You girls are supposed to look down on that remember."

Sarah couldn't help the chuckle that came out of her mouth. She wondered if Arsen was really as ballsy as he seemed, or if he was just plain nuts.

Varia was not amused. She slammed him up against a wall so hard the entire structure shook a bit.

"Or not." Arsen said with a laugh.

"You listen to me; I don't want any more of your lip." Varia said. "You were caught trespassing on Amazon territory with the intention of kidnapping one of my subjects. The only reason you aren't dead right now is because I need more information out of you."

"Really?" He said sarcastically. "Wow, when you put it that way it really makes me want to tell you everything I know."

She growled and forced him to the ground and walked toward the door.

"Have Ava torture him for an hour." She calmly said to the guards. "We'll see how reluctant he is to talk after that."

As they bowed and grabbed the man by the arms Sarah's eyes grew wide with disbelief.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Sarah said to both the guards and Varia, neither of them halting.

They took off in two different directions, so she decided to follow the Queen as quickly as possible with Khepri at her heels.

"Varia." She paused, and then corrected herself. "Queen Varia, when you say torture what exactly do you mean?"

This made Varia respond with a quick laugh. "Surely with all your worldliness you know what torture is, Sarah. Ava will make sure he suffers a life sustaining amount of pain so we can get the information we need."

"You can't just do that to the guy." Sarah said, immediately knowing how wrong it was once it left her mouth.

Varia stopped and swiftly turned to meet her gaze.

"What I meant to say, honored Queen, is that the torture may not even work." She looked to the ground with as much deference as she could muster. "I understand that it can be very persuasive, but the prisoner has so far shown an aversion to fear tactics. Perhaps we could try another angle."

"And what would you suggest, foreigner?" Varia crossed her arms. "Dazzle me with your superior intellect in these matters."

Sarah clenched her jaw, but continued to look at the ground.

"If we were to offer him his freedom in exchange for help in taking down the slavers we may have a better chance of saving your subject. He doesn't seem very fond of them." Sarah said, knowing this was probably not what the queen wanted to hear.

She was right.

"His freedom!" Varia growled. "That man came on my land and tried to kidnap my subjects. You think I can just let him go?"

"While he was on Amazon land, he technically did not attempt to kidnap any Amazons. Khepri and I are not a part of your tribe." Sarah tried to reason.

"Exactly!" Varia said. "My subjects wouldn't dream of questioning my authority in this matter."

"But Queen Va…" She was cut off.

"This conversation is over. The prisoner will be tortured, questioned and killed in that order. Another word from you and you can join him." She threatened.

Sarah was livid enough to try to speak again, but Khepri grabbed her by the arm.

"You aren't gonna do him any good by getting locked up." She whispered. "We'll figure out a way around this."

Sarah clenched her jaw and said nothing as Varia shot daggers with her eyes before turning to leave. As the two women were left standing there Sarah shook her head in anger and Khepri looked at her quizzically.

"I do think your argument makes sense, but why are you so opposed to him being tortured and killed?" She asked. "Had he captured an Amazon they wouldn't have been left with any life worth living."

"Torture is wrong, Khepri." Sarah said as calmly as she could. "Plus it's not as if he's the slave trader. He was just doing what he had to in order to save his life. And if you look at it logistically he would have been saving more lives by handing over some of the Amazons."

"You seem to have a soft spot for him." She said, somewhat jealous.

"I just don't think he's a bad guy for wanting to save his own life." Sarah said, and then offered up another excuse when that one didn't work on the woman. "I like playing devil's advocate."

Khepri furrowed her brow. Sarah was, quite possibly, one of the strangest women she'd ever met.

"Talk to Eve." She said.

"What?" Sarah asked, completely confused.

"Eve will agree with you." Khepri said, and then smiled mischievously. "And she's sleeping with the queen. I don't know how many relationships you've been in, but the object of one's affections usually holds more clout than a meddlesome foreigner."

Sarah smiled.

"Beautiful and smart." She said before kissing Khepri on the cheek and running off to find the Messenger.

Arsen's hands were tied and hung above his head on a hook while he waited for the Amazon to enter the room. There were various whips, restraints and other torture devices hanging from the walls.

"Well this outta be fun." He said to himself.

Arsen was no stranger to pain. Being bucked from the horses he tried to break had given him more permanent injuries than he could count. But he'd be crazy to think this was going to be a pleasant experience.

The door to the hut opened for the first time since the guards had secured him and a small, but capable looking Amazon entered. She was short, with a tight body and a cute face. If they'd been in a tavern instead of a torture chamber he would have bought her a drink and tried to find out more about her.

"You must be my new friend, Ava." He said with a smile.

"You must be the pig that wants to capture our sisters and sell them off to slavers." She quipped and smiled back. "How do you know my name?" She asked.

"I pay attention. And the word 'want' isn't exactly accurate in this whole 'kidnapping your sisters' situation. I never wanted to put up with this much shit just to stay alive and keep my land." He said flippantly as she moved closer to ensure his restraints would hold. "Man, you smell good. You must be one of those Amazons that bathe more than once a month."

She hit him hard across the jaw with a closed fist, causing his lower lip to bleed.

"You're going to make this a lot easier on me." She said with a smirk.

"Well, I do aim to please." He said. The punch had not knocked the grin off his face.

She studied him. His confidence was impressive, but it wouldn't last much longer.

"Since I'm under no orders other than to make you feel pain for the next hour I should probably make up a game plan." She said aloud as she paced; trying to let the gravity of the situation set in on him.

"It's always good to think ahead." He joked yet again.

"I think a gag is in order first." She said.

His main defense at this point was acting as if he had some kind of control over the situation by making light of it. She would be sure to put that to an end.

"You want me to what?" Varia reeled.

"Stop torturing that man that Sarah brought in." Eve stated plainly. "And sooner rather than later."

"Eve, I don't know what that brat Sarah told you, but that man tried to capture my subjects and sell them into slavery." The queen explained. "AND he knows the whereabouts of one of our kidnapped sisters. One hour of pain is the least of his worries."

"That's right, I heard you plan to execute him as well, but I plan on fighting that later." The Messenger said. "Right now you have to stop the torture."

Varia was taken aback by the messenger's condescending tone. _I am getting really tired of people telling me how to run my tribe._ She thought as she stood to defend her pride.

"I am the Queen of this tribe." She said, anger rising in her voice. "I answer to them, not to you."

Eve looked visibly stung by the words as her eyes lowered to the floor and she started to back out of the hut. The gruff dismissal stung.

"Of course." She said; half angry and half hurt. "I'm sorry, I forgot my place."

Before she turned to leave the hurt in the Eve's eyes caused Varia's mood to turn from anger to fear. She moved quickly from behind her desk and grabbed Eve gently by the wrist.

"Eve wait, please don't go." She said as the messenger returned her gaze with a thin layer of mist in her eyes. "By the gods, I am so sorry. I shouldn't have spoken to you like that; I certainly don't feel that way. I just have so much on my plate right now. I don't know what's gotten into me. Either way, I shouldn't be taking it out on you."

Eve studied her and truly believed she was sorry. Varia looked tired and stressed, which the Messenger couldn't blame her. She was now dealing with immortal beasts on one side of her and slave traders on the other. Eve decided levity was the best way to break the tension.

"Trying to argue with Sarah could put Eli on edge." She said with a soft smile. "I understand what you're going through Varia. You have a lot on your plate right now and answering to some know-it-all outsider is not helping."

She stroked the queen's chiseled features and was rewarded with a small smile.

"I have to deal with all of these unpleasant issues right now, when really all I want is to leave this place and do nothing but be with you." The Queen said.

"That's yet another item on your plate." Eve said with a smirk. "I just want you to try not to miss the forest for the trees here. As much as I want to agree with you on everything I do believe Sarah is right about this. That man is more useful to us alive than dead and he's much more likely to work with us if he hasn't been tortured by one of your capable subjects. Let Sarah handle this. She may not seem like she knows what she's doing, but I promises you her heart is in the right place. She cares for your people, Varia, and against all odds she hasn't let me down yet."

Varia sighed and looked away for a brief moment before coming back to the entreating eyes of the Messenger.

"I'll give her one week." She said reluctantly. "If she can deal with both him and the vampires in that amount of time I will personally admit I was wrong and make her an honorary Amazon to boot. But if she doesn't…" Her eyes were serious as she forced the Messenger to meet them. "…I need you to support my decisions. I don't want to fight you while I'm fighting two enemies."

"You already have my support, Varia." Eve stated seriously. "Now, you also have my approval."

Varia chuckled at the statement. _What have I gotten myself into?_ She thought.

"Let's get to Ava's hut. She's probably already started in on him by now." She said.

As the exited the hut they saw Sarah and Khepri leaning against it, trying to act as if they hadn't been listening in the entire time. Sarah was even whistling.

"He's yours for a week, Sarah." Varia said sternly. "In one week I want my subject out of the hands of those slavers and the vampires gone from the land. If you can't deliver on that, we do things my way."

"I'll figure it out." Sarah assured her, and then bowed. "Thank you, Queen Varia."

Varia almost believed she was sincere. "The prisoner will be released into the jail and you will be free to see him whenever you like. IF he gives us information that helps ensure the safe return of our sister his life will be spared. If not, I will carry out the death sentence myself."

"Understood." Sarah said.

Varia nodded. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a torture session to cease."

Eve remained with Sarah and Khepri as they all watched the queen walk away.

"One week." Khepri said, skeptically. "I hope you're good at performing miracles."

"Sarah…" Eve searched for the proper phrase. "…Pulls them out of her ass all the time."

Khepri furrowed her brow in confusion as Sarah clapped the messenger on the back.

"You get better and better every day." The time traveler said.

Sarah wanted to get to the jail to speak with Arsen right away, which left Khepri with a small amount of time to herself. She needed to use it wisely, so she decided to leave camp and have a chat with Asteri. They would not have time to plan out a strategy, but at least he would not be in the dark about the ambush Sarah had planned.

"Hey Khepri!" She heard Rah's voice coming from behind her and growled softly before turning around. She didn't have time for this.

"Where ya goin?" Rah asked. "Dinner will be served soon and it's about to get dark. You don't want to be in the woods with those things running around."

"Just needed a short walk to clear my mind a bit." She said sweetly. "It's been a long day, but I won't be gone long, I promise."

"Ok, but just in case, take this with you." Rah said, handing her a stake. "You never know right?"

Khepri looked at the stake only for a few seconds and let the irony of the situation rush over her. _A human handing me a stake_.

"Thanks." She said before walking away. "I owe you one."

Once out of sight she raced through the forest at top speed. The fastest animal in all of Greece would have been left in the dust of her momentum. She only slowed upon entering the cave then briskly walked to her brother's chamber. He was asleep in his bed with his little pet at his side.

"Asteri we need to talk." She said, sternly.

He shot up like a bolt of lightning and gasped. "Khepri, you must start to refine your manners. You don't just sneak up on a person while they're sleeping and demand their attention."

"Asteri we need to talk, _please_." She said, emphasizing the last word.

He rolled his eyes and moved to put on a pair of pants before addressing his bedmate. "Sirena, be a dear and leave us for a moment."

The young vampire eyed the older woman with annoyance as she walked past, but Khepri did not notice.

"And to what do I owe the pleasure of your company today sister?" He asked sarcastically as he searched for a shirt. "You've been away dallying with the Amazons and from the looks of it, haven't fed the entire time. Shall I assume your cryptic plan to bring them down has failed and you've now bored of the notion? Because things around here haven't been exactly chipper. We've lost two of our group."

"Asteri, I know about Damon and Talos, but I don't have time for your theatrics." She growled. "Right now I need you to listen. The Amazons know about the vampires now. They know what they are and how to kill them and they're planning a daylight attack."

His eyes grew wide and for the first time in a long time he felt an emotion he thought impossible to ever again feel: fear.

"Do they know about us?" He asked.

Khepri stared at him in amazement. After all they'd done to create a pack he still could only care for his own well being. She sighed and shook her head; there was no time to chastise him.

"I don't think so, but I can't be sure of it." She said. "The important thing is that we know what's about to happen and we have a chance to stop it."

"When do they plan to attack? What do they plan to do?" He asked.

"They plan to find our nest and use mirrors to reflect the sunlight in. But we have a few days before that happens because they don't have the mirrors yet."

"Then we must descend upon them tonight!" He said, jerking a shirt on. "There's no time to waste. You've been invited into their camp; you should be able to get the rest of us in."

She placed a hand on his chest to stop his pacing.

"We're not going to do that, not just yet." She said calmly.

"Are you mad?" He shouted. "If they know about the vampires they may know about us; a way to kill us!"

"Keep your voice down, you child." She said angrily. "Do you want the entire cave to know what's going on? What a marvelous idea it would be to fight the Amazons four to one while our smaller numbers are in a panic. We'll lose all of them within an hour."

"Then what do you suggest we do?" He asked; his voice lower, but still frenzied.

"You will do nothing until I say." She said. "I have to think this through. I just wanted you to be ready. No hunting for the next few nights. We can't risk losing anyone else."

She started to walk away, but his voice stopped her.

"And what shall I tell them, hmm?" He asked. "That they're not to hunt because we'd like them to practice a little self restraint?"

She paused, and then spoke firmly before leaving hastily.

"Tell them we need them hungry and angry. They'll soon need it for a fight."

"Right, that should go over well." Asteri said to an empty room as he fumed over being treated like a child.

"So you're telling me that_ if _I help you get the Amazon out of the slavers hands the queen won't kill me, but I will have to make sure to dodge the slave traders that have already threatened my life?" Arsen said to Sarah from within the prison walls.

"That's the gist of it." She answered.

"Now let's say I trust the word of this Amazon, which I don't, but just for fun we'll go along with your scenario. If I'm set free I'm probably going to be killed by the slave traders seeing as how they're probably going to recognize me if I'm hauling away one of their products." He explained. "What's in it for me?"

Sarah looked at him quizzically.

"First of all, she's a person not a product. Second of all if you don't help me out on this you will certainly die. Coming out of this situation with your life is what's in it for you." Sarah said. "Not to mention a hell of a lot less time with Ava, mistress of pain. I mean, I know you can't see your back right now, but that hooker pulled a number on you."

"What's a hooker?" He asked.

"Derogatory term for women." Sarah answered.

"How dare you speak that way about Ava!" He said. "You'd find she's a lovely girl if you didn't lose enough blood in the process of getting to know her."

"Hooker." He added with a smile and a wink.

"Arsen, I'm being serious here!" She said.

"So am I! Ava can wear the hell outta some leather pants and her eyes have this cute little sparkle to them."

"Look, I put my ass on the line to save yours and I need your cooperation to do it." She entreated.

"And that was your decision." He countered. "The way I see it my life is forfeit either way. I can either die by the hands of the Amazons and do nothing in the mean time, or I can put forth all this effort to save some girl I don't even care about, only to be killed later by the slavers. Unless those guys bite the dust too, I'm not wasting my time fighting them."

Sarah sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

"Just give me a location on the slavers." She said putting her hands up and staring at the floor. "I've got the rest of the week to figure out how to resolve this situation and maybe by then you'll change your mind."

"I'm assuming you've never run this kind of operation, so I'll give you a little slack." He said calmly. "Bad guys don't usually put up road signs to their hideout. See the law usually doesn't care too much for them so they like to stay hidden. I could no more tell you how to find them than I could talk you through finding a needle in a haystack."

"Then show me." She said.

"Ha!" He laughed aloud. "Again, that would be the kind of thing I'm trying to avoid here. Plus I'd love to see you talk those Amazons into letting me loose."

Sarah put her hands on her hips and sighed. He was right about nearly everything he said. She just couldn't figure out a way to take out the slavers. The Amazon's certainly couldn't afford to lose any numbers with the vampires so close, and it's not as if she could take out all of the slavers herself. Immortal or not, she just wasn't that good in a fight.

Arsen noticed her silence and deduced what it was about.

"Why do you care anyway?" He asked. "It's not like we're best buds or anything; I've tried to kill you."

"I'm just stupid in the sense that I like everything to turn out ok." Sarah said before shaking her head and leaving.

Arsen looked down at ground, shook his head and chuckled. "Women."

As she walked through the camp she caught a familiar call coming from the direction of Zoe's fire pit. The band of vampire hunters she'd thrown together must have been talking shop because there wasn't anyone else around the circle. Their mood was light and jovial, but it didn't help much to brighten Sarah's.

Khepri noticed the melancholy expression that adorned Sarah's face.

"Hey, you alright?" She asked.

"Yeah," Sarah said, looking over to her. "I'm fine."

"You don't seem fine." Khepri countered.

"I'm just tired, I think." Sarah said, moving her gaze to the ground. "Everything is starting to seem hopeless right now. I don't think I'm cut out for this whole hero thing."

"Well I definitely think you're wrong about that." Khepri said. "I happen to believe you're very good at being a hero."

Sarah chuckled defiantly. "I wish you were right." She shook her head then spoke again.

"I just keep trying to figure out what Xena or Gabrielle would do in this situation."

The mention of the bard and the warrior brought everyone out of their conversations to focus on Sarah.

"I mean, in all honesty the chances of actually sneaking that girl out of the slave camp are slim to none. We'd have to fight all of them and just end it. But if we do that we risk losing a lot of warriors. Warriors that we need in case the vampires decide to make some kind of surprise attack. I just don't see a solution to this problem."

Anthony thought back to one of Gabrielle's earlier scrolls.

"When Gabrielle was kidnapped by the minions of Morpheus she was forced to fight two enemies at the same time and she just let them fight each other. But I can't even remotely figure out a way for us to be in that position." He said.

"Are you kidding?" Zoe joked. "Just send Sarah to live the vampires for a few days. If she can make the queen change her mind about killing that kidnapper guy, she can certainly talk the monsters into protecting their food."

Everyone laughed at this statement including Sarah.

"Hey, I can't help being persuasive." She said, her tone bittersweet. "You know guys, I'm really tired, I think I'm gonna go ahead and hit the hay. Get an early start in the morning and everything."

Her statement was followed with a few "You sures?" "You sucks!" "Good nights." and one "I'm coming with you". As she looked over to see Khepri standing to make an exit as well; her heart skipped a beat for multiple reasons. Part excitement over the idea of being alone with her, part dread because she knew at some point she'd have to explain her immortality and part anxiety because she was also pretty sure that whole business about their kiss would have to finally be taken care of.

Though the simple nod and smile that she directed at the woman gave away none of these emotions, Khepri could tell that Sarah was unsettled. This made the fact that she grabbed her hand to guide her back to their hut even more interesting.

They reached the structure without saying a word. Once inside Sarah closed the door then gently, but intently, pushed Khepri against it before pressing their lips together. The taller woman bent her head down a little bit to accommodate the small difference in height once she'd fully realized what was going on and started to kiss back. Sarah held her face in her hands as a means to somehow keep herself grounded. She had kissed a number of women before, but this was different somehow. It was as if she could not only feel Khepri's lips against hers, but her energy as well.

Khepri's lust for Sarah's lips was just as powerful as her need for Sarah's blood. She hadn't fed at all that day and all of her senses seemed on edge. She moved her hands to the girls back and smiled softly into the kiss as she detected a soft moan coming from her partner. As she pulled her closer and their bodies met, pleasurable sensations started to close in on her core. It was then that she decided to slowly lick at the soft lips in front of hers; tenderly begging entry that was granted within seconds. The swift submission forced a growl to rise up in her throat. Her hunger was getting strong and she knew that if she didn't stop soon it would overwhelm her one way or the other. She brought the kisses back down to a few pecks before pulling back altogether and resting her head against Sarah's.

_But why am I stopping? _She thought to herself. _It's not like she isn't into this. And even if she wasn't I'm pretty sure I could persuade her one way or another._

It was at that moment that Sarah backed off completely.

"God, I'm sorry." She said. "I shouldn't have just pushed myself on you like some kind of pubescent boy."

Khepri looked at her for a moment and again thought to herself. _That's why I stopped. There's something about her that's so pure… so sweet. I'm starting to wonder if I'm really in control of this situation anymore._

"I guess I just wanted, for one second, to actually be in control of something in my life." Sarah said apologetically and Khepri's eyes shot up.

"What did you say?" She asked. _Can she read my mind as well?_

"I can't defeat the slavers all by myself." Sarah said, moving closer. "And I can't get rid of the vampires without help either." She raised her hand up to Khepri's face again. "But I did have a choice to overcome my own fear and do the one thing I've been waiting to do since I first met you. I at least have control over showing you how I feel."

She looked into Khepri's eyes and saw no resistance at all, so she leaned in for one last peck before smiling softly and moving away to dress for bed.

"And just in case my actions didn't spell it out, I want you to know that I like you." She said as she reached in her pack for a sleep shirt.

Khepri eyes watched the girl move as if she were prey. Every flinch of every muscle was amplified to her as she tried to listen to Sarah's words. She couldn't tell which urge she was fighting more: desire for her body, or craving for her blood. But one of them was making it very hard to be in the same room with her.

When Khepri didn't answer Sarah began to worry that her advances were unwanted. Her heart started to beat faster with fear as she spoke again.

"Of course if you don't feel the same way I totally understand." She said quickly as she undid the laces to her shirt. "I promise I won't try to kiss you again. I'll even sleep on the floor if it will make you more comfortable." She finished pulling the garment off.

When she saw the scars everything became more focused. She couldn't imagine hurting Sarah like that. Couldn't imagine biting her and taking her life; if that was even a possibility. All of her longings were focused now and she stepped forward to kiss the young girl's pain away.

Sarah was extremely confused. Khepri still hadn't said a word, but she could hear soft footfalls moving closer to her.

_Is she about to strangle me from behind? Surely I didn't offend her that badly._

"Khepri?" Sarah said softly through bated breath. Her heart felt as if it would beat out of her chest.

It pounded louder still when she felt the woman's cold hands gently grasp her sides and quick breaths play along the right region of her neck. Khepri could hear both the girl's heartbeat and breathing increase the closer she got. As she tortured herself mere inches away from the pulse point she too began to breath harder until finally she forced her hunger down and softly kissed the skin that she'd just envisioned ripping apart only earlier in the day.

Sarah gasped and swallowed hard as she felt Khepri's lips trace a line down from her neck and over the first scar that would adorn her back for the rest of her life. Those tender kisses were the most erotic she'd ever encountered. And as Khepri knelt further down to continue her unique healing process Sarah's mind fought to regain control over her body's need.

_I haven't even known her a week. I shouldn't feel this strongly about her. And furthermore I should definitely not sleep with her. I'm out of here as soon as everything is fixed in this place. I don't want to leave with any stronger feelings for her than I already have._

_Jesus, she's got a really talented tongue._

_No! I should stop this. I never planned on having sex with her tonight. I shouldn't let this happen._

_Are her hands moving up to my chest?_

As Khepri kissed the last of the scars her hands moved up to cup Sarah's heaving breasts and the girl moaned. The noise was one born of both pleasure and frustration and Khepri detected both sounds. She stood up to lean in to Sarah's ear. She couldn't help kissing it before she spoke breathily into it.

"Sarah, I want you." She rasped. "But we need to stop now if you don't want this too."

_Because I won't be able to if we go any further and, for some reason I can't understand, I don't want to do anything to hurt you._

Sarah took a deep breath and moved away to grab her sleep shirt before turning to address Khepri. The penetrating blue eyes almost undid what she had planned to say, but she held strong.

"Khepri, when I finish things up here I might have to leave." She said sadly. "And I'll be honest; I like you a lot more than I should after knowing you for only a few days. It's weird and I can't explain it, but I feel it nonetheless. If you were just beautiful and smart and sweet, I think I might be able to just share a few nights of intimacy with you." She paused and blushed before speaking again. "A few, very hot, nights of intimacy with you." She amended.

Khepri smiled at this and let Sarah continue.

"But I think that right now I'd just like to get to know you better…" She paused and looked at the ground. "… and maybe hold each other while we sleep tonight?"

Sarah looked up at her with hopeful eyes and Khepri smiled.

"I think that can be arranged." She said, raising her hand to lovingly push an errant hair out of Sarah's eyes.

Before they even had a chance to move to the bed horns started blaring outside and Amazonian commands were being issued by the higher ranks.

"What the hell?" Sarah said as she moved to the door.

When she opened it all hell was breaking loose outside. She grabbed the arm of one of the younger amazons and pulled her aside.

"What's going on?" She asked.

"Monsters are at the gates." The girl answered before running to seek out the other children.

"Shit." Sarah said as she ran back inside to grab her sword then bolted toward the front gates.

"Sarah, wait!" Khepri said; fearful of what her brother had in store.

"Khepri stay back and hide! If they somehow get in, run for safety." The girl yelled back.

"No!" She growled and followed the mob moving toward the gates.

_You said you wanted to get to know me better, Sarah. Let's just hope you like what you find out. _She thought. A sense of loss already starting to fill her cold heart as she moved toward a no win situation.

While the dark figure moved through the woods the lights of the camp started to come into view. As did an angry mob positioned just outside the gates. A smirk appeared on her face and a quiet chuckle filled the air before she unsheathed her sword.

"Sarah, my friend, what have you gotten yourself into this time?" Rada said to herself as she moved stealthily to the rear of the camp.

To be continued…


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 – Have a Little Faith in Me

"Sarah!" Khepri yelled into the crowd of Amazons that had made their way to the front gate.

She could even smell the girl, but she couldn't find her in all the confusion. Finally after pushing her way to the front she saw her figure at the top of the gate on the scaffolding. She quickly made her way up the ladder and sidled up next to Sarah. From that vantage point she could see Asteri's face at the head of their pack. When their eyes met he gave her a semi apologetic grin followed by a shrug of the shoulders.

The Amazons were talking loudly and demanding to know what was going on as the queen ascended the ladder to top of the gates. Standing next to Sarah, she eyed the girl nervously.

"You said they can't come in without an invitation, right?" She asked.

"I said it's possible." Sarah answered. "But right now I'm thinking you better clue everyone in about what's going on; otherwise it's going to be a massacre."

Varia looked down into the crowd and searched for Zoe. Once their eyes met she yelled down to her.

"Zoe!" She said over the noise. "Prepare everyone for attack. Get the stakes and spread the word."

Zoe nodded and scrambled to get to Meg, Rah and Anthony. While the two Egyptians gathered the weapons she and Meg explained how to use them.

"Have they made any demands?" Varia asked the time traveler.

"Not so far." Sarah said. "They're just standing out there. What are they waiting for?"

"An invitation!" Said the man to the front.

"He can hear you?" Varia whispered in fear.

"I told you, they have super… everything." She explained.

Looking down, Varia swallowed hard and demanded silence from her people. She then leveled a hard gaze at the leader of the pack.

"I am Varia, queen of the Amazons, and no invitation will be granted to your kind." She said. "Now I suggest you leave us before I issue an order to my archers to fire into your ranks."

He smiled and crossed his arms. "I am Asteri, Prince of the vampires, and I'm not going to simply wait for your tribe to destroy my own as they sleep." He said this as much to Khepri as he did to Varia.

"They know about the plan." Sarah said to Varia. "How could they possibly know about the plan?"

"They must have someone on the inside." Varia said.

"That's impossible." Sarah whispered. "There aren't any vampires here. I've seen everyone out and about in the sunlight."

"Then they must have a human working for them." Varia growled.

Khepri's heart was racing. If she tried to speak to her brother she'd give herself away, but if she waited too long he'd likely do it for her; forcing her to issue the invitation. She needed time; a way to diffuse the situation. So she did the first thing that came to mind. She took a hostage.

Eve had joined Varia on the scaffolding to get a better look at the attackers. She barely had time to scream as a strong arm hoisted her over a cold shoulder and both women fell to the ground outside of the gate. Khepri let her down but kept her left arm tight around the messenger's waist and her left hand wrapped around her throat as she backed away from the camp and towards her pack.

Both Sarah and Varia gripped the fence and screamed at the woman before they were silenced by her words.

_This isn't happening. _Sarah thought. _She can't be…_

"My name is Khepri, Princess of the vampires, and if you do not do exactly as I say I will kill Eve with a flick of my wrist."

"No." Varia said softly; fear stifling her throat. "Hold your fire, she yelled to the archers who had readied their bows."

"There will be no bloodshed tonight!" Khepri yelled and was met with a round of groans from the vampires behind her.

"Silence!" She turned her head to address them and shot daggers at her brother's confused face.

Sarah and Varia looked on with bated breath as they waited for Khepri to speak again.

The vampire princess took a deep breath and tried to figure out exactly what she was going to do next. She'd only needed to reach a standstill before, now she had to come up with a plan. As she searched for a solution in her head her eyes met Sarah's and she saw the anger and betrayal simmering in the blue depths. It hurt her more than she wanted it to.

"What do you want?" Sarah spat. "Are you just gonna stand there all night?"

Khepri sighed. "I want you, Sarah. But I think we both know that threatening your life won't do me any good." She watched as Sarah's jaw clenched in rage. "Your people have found a way to kill us in the daytime." She said, more for the vampires' benefit than the Amazons'. "And I only need issue an invitation for them to massacre your tribe tonight. We must reach an agreement that will benefit all of us. And to ensure our safety while this agreement is met I'll be taking Eve as my hostage…" She paused then looked at the girl, whose eyes held utter hatred for her, then addressed the queen. "…And Sarah as my negotiator. They will not be harmed as long as no attacks are made against my people."

"You're not people!" Sarah yelled as she hopped over the gate and dropped to the ground.

"Damn it, Sarah." Varia cursed as she watched the girl go without any thought to what she was doing.

"You're soulless monsters who need to be extinguished." She said as she moved closer to Khepri.

"Careful Sarah." The princess said as she squeezed her hand harder around Eve's throat causing the woman to gasp. "You wouldn't want to make me mad right now." She warned.

Sarah looked into Eve's eyes. The messenger showed no fear, only anger; and she saw in Sarah's nothing but remorse for her poor judgment. The time traveler looked back up to Khepri.

"Let's get this over with." She said.

"Tie them up." Khepri ordered as she handed Eve over to one of the vampires.

Both Eve and Sarah were grabbed forcefully and bound tightly at the wrists; their hands behind their backs, as Khepri finished addressing the Amazons.

"As I said before, as long as you leave us alone, they'll not be harmed." She said. "Sarah will be sent back to you within a day to discuss our demands and accept your cooperation. Until then it would be wise for you to keep your people within the camp. As you can see some of us _aren't_ afraid to come out in the daytime."

Varia felt completely powerless. Had Khepri chosen any person other than Eve to take as her prisoner she wouldn't have agreed to the terms, but her heart would not allow her even the thought of losing the messenger. She held Eve's eyes until she'd been forced to turn away and follow the vampires to their layer. Leaving Varia with no other alternative than the excruciating action of sitting around to wait.

Meanwhile Rada quietly made her way down the tree she'd been using to watch scene unfold. She decided to follow the mob to their hide out, and keep an eye on Eve and Sarah. If she was quiet enough she could find out where they were being taken, then come back to get help from the Amazons.

Sarah felt a shove to her shoulder coming from the vampire behind her. It sent her off balance and she dropped to her knees. Before she could try to regain her footing the vampire was grabbed by the neck and pinned against a tree by his princess.

"The prisoners are to be treated as guests, not cattle. If any harm comes to either one of them you will have to deal with me." She gripped the vampire's throat as tight as she could without crushing it completely. "Is that understood?" She asked him.

He somehow managed to choke out a raspy 'yes' before being dropped back on the ground. Khepri then moved to help Sarah back to her feet, but was shrugged away as the girl stood back up on her own.

"Don't touch me." She spat, her eyes focused on the ground.

Khepri wanted to tell her that she wasn't going to hurt her, but she knew that she'd already caused the girl pain. And even if Sarah did believe her, now was not the time with the vampires watching their every move.

"Keep moving." She said to everyone before she finally dragged her eyes away from the girl.

Once she reached Asteri she heard Eve's voice quietly ask Sarah if she was alright. Her brother's voice covered up the answer.

"I really hope you've got a good explanation for the little scene you just pulled back there." He said with a snarl.

"Brother, you'd do well to check your tone before addressing me again." She growled back at him. "I am keeping this pack alive right now, no thanks to you. The Amazons not only out number us, they know our secrets. Asking for a fight is tantamount to suicide. I tried to drill that into your thick skull earlier today."

"That's right, but being the petulant child that I am I decided to size up the situation myself." He said. "You don't get to decide everything for this family, Khepri; there are two rulers."

"And one with no self control." She said.

"Self control?" His eyes widened. "You want to talk about self control? Explain to me why you nearly killed Thomas back there just because he pushed that worthless human."

"She's not a worthless human." Khepri replied.

Asteri studied her for a few seconds then spoke.

"Oh you must be joking." He said with a laugh. "I can't even begin to describe the stupidity of putting the entire pack in danger just because you've got the hots for some human. Fuck her, bite her, and keep her around until she no longer interests you, but do not put our people in danger just because you want her to like you back. Because, if you hadn't noticed, she's not exactly thrilled about this whole situation."

Khepri growled in frustration.

"I'm not doing this to get laid you moron. She _is_ special; the girl can't die." She explained.

"What?" He asked, the superiority gone from his tone. "Is she a god? One of us?"

"I don't know that yet." She explained, frustration still evident in her voice. "All I know is that I saw her pull a knife out of her gut yesterday and not even bat an eyelash. But don't worry; I don't think she's as strong as us. She can be harmed, just not killed."

"What do you plan to do with her?" He asked.

"Exactly what I said I was going to do with her. She is to be the negotiator for our peace terms."

"You mean you were serious about that?" He asked in disgust. "Why should we make peace with these humans, who cares if they know the secrets of the vampires, we can make as many as we want until we've killed all of them."

"And then what?" Khepri asked. "Continue on until we've eaten or turned the entire world!"

Her anger was growing even more.

"We decided long ago to keep things small." She reminded him. "One pack that hunted on the outskirts of human existence. If we start growing we won't be able to control them and there will be separation, war, and total human annihilation. You get irritable when you go one day without feeding, imagine having to go millennia without it. Oblivion may be an option for them, but it's not for the two of us."

Asteri sighed.

"I still don't think that means we have to cater to those insipid Amazons." He protested.

"Well you'd better find a way to accept it because that's the only way things won't get out of hand." She said as they reached the cave.

"Put the prisoners in a private holding cell." She said to one of the vampires. "The rest of you are free to hunt for the night, but stay away from the Amazon camp. We don't want any more losses. Asteri come with me, we have more to discuss."

She watched as Sarah passed by. The girl still kept her eyes to the ground. Khepri knew that the next conversation they had together was not going to be pleasant. She could only hope that Sarah was smart enough to realize that angering her captor was not one of the brightest things she could do. As she'd said to Asteri; 'She can be harmed, just not killed.'

Their hands were freed upon entering the small cell. Sarah had no idea how long it had taken the vampires to build their underground fortress, but she gathered that it was huge. They had gone through three corridors alone just to reach the holding chambers, which were nothing more than a series of alcoves outfitted with iron bars.

Once they were alone Sarah tested the strength of the bars. When she realized they were far too sturdy to be taken down by hand she turned her attention to Eve. The messenger sat a quietly on one of two make shit beds in the room. Her face was hard and cold.

"I know I'm probably the last person you want to be alone in a cell with right now, but if it'll make you feel any better you can say 'I told you so' as many times as you want." She said as she sat down across from the Messenger.

"I told you so." Eve said, mechanically.

"Did it work?" Sarah asked.

"No." She said, finally meeting her eyes. "It didn't work because I'm not mad at you."

"Well I sure as hell am." Sarah said, looking down at her clasped hands. "I can't believe she was the enemy the entire time. Jesus Christ, I nearly…"

"Nearly what?" Eve asked.

"Never mind." Sarah said. "It makes the whole thing even more embarrassing."

"You almost slept with her didn't you." Eve said with a chuckle.

"Didn't I just say 'never mind'?" Sarah asked incredulously before sighing. "I've never really had the best taste in women but this is just crazy."

"Do you think she meant what she said?" Eve asked. "You know, about reaching some kind of agreement that won't end in bloodshed."

"It's hard to say." Sarah answered. "On the one hand she didn't issue an invitation that would have most definitely ended with the deaths of a lot of Amazons. On the other hand she is a lying snake who doesn't mind using any kind of tactics to gain an advantage."

The last statement was forced out with such venom Eve almost laughed at how it contorted Sarah's face.

"You really liked her didn't you?" Eve asked.

"No, I liked who she was pretending to be." Sarah replied. "I was a fucking moron who didn't even know she was sleeping right next to a monster, EVEN THOUGH her best friend warned her about it!"

"You think of me as your best friend?" Eve asked incredulously.

Sarah looked at her with confusion. "Do you really think that's the most pressing issue at hand?"

"No," she agreed as she moved over to the bed to sit next to Sarah. "But I still want it confirmed. Am I your best friend, Sarah?"

Sarah was still looking at her as if she were crazy, but conceded and rolled her eyes before answering.

"Yes, you're my best friend. Does that make you happy?" She asked.

Eve answered her with a hug.

"You're such a fuckin softie." Sarah said as returned the hug and gave Eve the 'frat boy' pat on the back.

The tender moment was interrupted by the squeak of the iron bars as they were opened by one of the vampires. They broke free from each other and Sarah stood between Eve and the creature of the night.

"Princess Khepri would like to see you now." He said.

Both women moved toward the exit, but he put up a hand to halt them.

"Just you." He said to Sarah.

Sarah looked back to Eve.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine." She said to the time traveler. "These things aren't human, remember? And I've got plenty of frustration to draw from should they even look at me the wrong way."

Sarah nodded, but still felt worry start to grow in the pit of her stomach as she followed the vampire to what she assumed were Khepri's quarters. The room was bathed in rich, warm colors that gave it a soft glow in the firelight. The fact that she would have thought it was sexy had the circumstances been different made her want to puke at her own ignorance. As her eyes scanned the walls and floor she made sure to keep them off of Khepri's face. She still couldn't bring herself to meet the other woman's gaze out of protection of what little pride she had left.

"Kneel before the princess." The other vampire said.

Sarah let out a chuckle without thought of suppressing it and Khepri managed to stop the man from striking her down to her knees.

"That won't be necessary." She said, his wrist still in her grasp. "You may leave us now." She commanded and he obeyed.

Khepri then moved behind Sarah's back and as soon as the door to her quarters closed she had to quickly dodge the arm that swung at her.

"Sarah!" She tried to caution as she continued to dodge and deflect her opponent's swings. "Sarah, stop!"

But the girl wouldn't listen. She, instead, slammed Khepri against the door giving the vampire no other choice that to throw her back. A wooden chair broke the time traveler's fall and with a grin and a snarl she grabbed one of the pointy wooden shards and dove in again for the kill. Her momentum landed her on top of the other woman as they both struggled for control.

"Sarah, listen to me, you can't do this!" Khepri warned as she held off the hand that was trying to drive the stake through her heart.

"Why?" Sarah asked, her eyes focused intently just above Khepri's left breast.

If she'd been looking in the vampire's eyes she would have seen the sadness that had taken them over at the knowledge that Sarah truly hated her enough to kill her. She pushed it down for the moment, resolving to deal with her feelings later.

"Because it won't work." She said before releasing the girls hand and letting gravity plunge the weapon into her chest.

There was a small twinge of pain that sent a shudder through her body, but nothing more. It was, however, enough to bring Sarah's eyes back up to her own. They laid that way for a few seconds, both women breathing hard and staring at each other. She couldn't tell if it was disappointment or relief that was coming from the girl's eyes but before Sarah could decide to try anything else, Khepri finally utilized her superior strength to turn the tables and gain the upper hand. With a swiftness that knocked the wind out of Sarah she managed to remove the stake from her heart and quickly roll them both over.

Though the girl was struggling as hard as she could her resistance was barely causing any kind of strain on Khepri.

"Sarah stop, you'll only end up hurting yourself." She said angrily as she tried to reason with her.

"What'd you care?" Was the reply, with no signs of any abatement in the struggle.

Khepri's anger started to flare as she looked down at the girl.

"I'm starting to wonder that myself." She said as her fangs grew erect and Sarah's eyes finally grew wide with fear.

_Would it really be such a bad thing to just take what I want? _She thought to herself. _Maybe Asteri's right. We should be lording over these humans, not trying to make peace with them. And it's not like it would kill her; she can't die._

With a deep rumble from the back of her throat she swiftly lowered her mouth down to Sarah's neck, her lips dragging along the soft skin until she felt the pulse point. She smiled before nuzzling into it and letting her body melt into the one beneath her. Sarah had stopped struggling at this point and started to wonder what was going on.

"You shouldn't have made me angry, Sarah." She said, seduction dripping from her voice.

"What does it matter?" Sarah said in return. "You were just gonna do what your brother told you to anyway, weren't you?"

When Khepri didn't answer or clamp down on her neck she continued.

"What, did you think I couldn't hear what he had to say about me? I'm human not deaf." She paused. "The only thing I can't figure out is what you're going to do when you lose interest in me, seeing as how I can't die." She tried to stop the tear that threatened to flow free of her left eye, but was unsuccessful. "I guess once you're done I'll just get handed down like a rag doll."

She was so close, her fangs needed only the smallest increase in pressure and the girl's blood would be flowing into her mouth. And if it weren't for that one small drop of salty liquid that fell from Sarah's eye she would have done just that. Instead she closed her mouth and clenched her teeth in frustration as she tried to will her hunger away. She then let go of Sarah's hands and slammed her own fists into the ground on either side of the girls head, then raised herself up to look at her.

Sarah wasn't sure what was going on, but she'd already seen that it was useless to fight back. There was struggle, anger and something that looked like sadness in Khepri's eyes. After what seemed like ages of staring in each other's gaze the taller woman finally rose to her feet and moved to a table on the other side of the room. She poured herself a goblet of blood to take the edge off of her thirst; not wanting a similar episode to occur again.

Sarah got to her feet as well and tried to understand the situation. A vampire just had her fangs poised at her throat and yet she didn't bite, not only that she moved away and settled for lukewarm blood that had been sitting around for God only knew how long. She simply couldn't figure Khepri out.

"Why didn't you do it?" Sarah asked, touching her unharmed neck.

The vampire princess mulled over the question for a second then quickly finished off the glass before deciding not to answer it...

"What are you, Sarah?" She asked. "Are you some kind of God or a sorceress? What other powers do you hold besides your immortality?"

She used her vampire speed and was standing behind Sarah in the blink of an eye.

"Did you put some kind of spell on me?" She said next to Sarah's ear.

Sarah chuckled then turned to look at her.

"A spell?" She said incredulously. "What kind of spell could I possibly have cast on you? The 'I can't wait till she screws me over and kidnaps me' spell? I'm not that masochistic, sweetheart."

"Don't give me your jokes right now; you know damn well what I'm talking about." She said, lightly tapping a finger into her shoulder. "You make me… feel. There's something about you that makes me care and I don't like it one bit."

At this point Sarah was completely taken aback.

"I what?" She asked, her eye squinting as if it would help her better understand the situation.

Khepri stepped closer and looked first at Sarah's throat, "Do have any idea how many times I've stopped myself from biting someone?" Then up to her eyes. "Not one. I have killed girls that were younger, sweeter and much more innocent than you and I didn't so much as hesitate for a second in taking what I wanted."

Khepri started to move closer and Sarah in turn moved back.

"You are arrogant, reckless, foul mouthed, and wildly foolish." She'd backed Sarah against the wall, then took a moment to look her over. "What's so special about you?"

Sarah swallowed hard and tried to remember how to breathe. She felt both insulted and commended in some way by the accusatory statements. But, in the end, when she thought about how to answer Khepri's last question a sadness came over her.

"Nothing." She said sadly as much to the other woman as to herself. "Nothing, I'm just an arrogant, reckless, foul mouthed fool who was too blind to know she was being played."

There was not spite in the words, just truth and acceptance. It was then Khepri realized just how much trouble she was in. She liked the girl. Truly liked her; and not just despite all of these faults, but because of them too. And though Sarah probably didn't know it yet, she now held the most powerful hand. The vampire backed away and turned to face the door.

"You should go." She said. "It's nearly sunrise and we have a great deal to talk about tomorrow."

For the first time the entire evening Sarah actually didn't argue. She walked quickly to the door so she could exit before anymore tears of defeat could fall, but Khepri spoke once more as she reached for the handle to the door.

"You were wrong. This whole thing would be much easier if there were nothing special about you." She said to the girls back. "But you _were_ wrong."

The tear fell as Sarah grasped the handle and exited the room without so much as another word, then the vampire outside escorted her back to her cell. Khepri poured herself another drink while sadly contemplating the large, empty bed that she would soon have to retire to.

Rada had been perched in a tree for at least an hour after all the vampires had returned to the cave. The first few rays of the sun were starting to cascade into the forest and she decided it was time to make a run for the camp. She wasn't sure what was going on, but any information she could give the Amazons would surely help.

As soon as she reached the gate she put her hands up in the symbol of peace that Sarah had showed her back in Japa in case she decided to visit. Two Amazons peeked out from behind the wall and pointed arrows straight at her heart.

"Who are you and why are you trespassing on Amazon land?" One of them asked.

"My name is Rada." She said, wondering how good her idea of coming to see the Amazons was. "Sarah and Eve are my friends. We met back in Japa."

The two guards looked at each other, then one of them addressed her again.

"Take your weapons off of your body and return your hands above your head."

"Oh crap." Rada said, as she did their bidding.

Once all of her weapons were removed the gate was open and four Amazons moved toward her slowly. Three of them were carrying swords and stakes, one was carrying chains.

"Hey, wait a minute." She said. "I'm coming here as a friend, I have information about where those people took Sarah and Eve!"

One of the Amazons put a sword to her throat as the other presumed to secure her hands.

"The Queen will decide whether you are a friend or not." Said the one with the sword.

Rada rolled her eyes and spoke softly to herself. "You're gonna owe me big time for this one, Sarah."

She followed the Amazons to a well guarded hut and was ushered in to speak to a tall dark haired woman.

"Kneel before the queen." One of the Amazons said.

Again, Rada did what she was told with an eye roll.

"Who are you and what is your purpose here?" Varia asked.

"Well I already explained that, but I guess I can go through it one more time." She said standing back up. "My name is Rada and I am a friend of Sarah and Eve. I met them in Japa, right before they came to stay with you."

"Why have you come here?" Varia asked.

"Sarah told me that I could visit, so that's what I came to do. I arrived last night and saw them being taken away by those people and I followed them before coming here." She explained.

"And how do we know you're not one of them?" Varia asked. "How can we be sure that you're not a vampire?"

"Look, beautiful, I don't know what you're talking about now, but I can assure you that I'm not with the group that took my friends. I'm here to find a way to get them out safely and you can either help me with that or let me go."

"By the gods, you're as bad as she is." Varia said, referring to Sarah. "Where is the cave?"

"About an hour south of here, but it's hidden pretty well." Rada answered. "It has a lot of these symbols on the outside."

She said looking around the room. As Varia's eyes followed her she immediately understood. The vampires were holed up in an Amazon cave. The Queen thought for a moment about their options. They could go in now and try to perform a rescue under cover of daylight. Though they still didn't have the mirrors, most of the vampires wouldn't be able to follow them if they made it out of the cave. Or she could wait to see of Sarah came back as they said she would and risk the chance that the vampire was lying. Of course if she was lying, both Eve and Sarah were likely dead anyway. With a sigh she decided to hold out until they knew for sure Sarah wasn't coming back.

"Take her to the holding cell with the other prisoner." She ordered.

"Wait a minute, what have I done?" Rada protested. "I'm trying to help you, you crazy bitch."

All of the guards around her put their weapons to her throat and Varia glared back. She then gestured for her to be taken away and Rada growled in frustration.

Once inside the jail she was released from her bonds and unceremoniously shoved inside.

"Hey kidnapper, we've got a real treat for you." One of the Amazons said. "This one could be a vampire."

Arsen looked his new cellmate over as the guards left them alone. "Does vampire mean foreigner?" He asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine, man." She said taking a seat next to him. "You try to kidnap one of these bitches?"

"Yeah, but that obviously didn't work out so well." He answered.

Rada chuckled as she looked him over.

"Did they do that to your back?" She asked.

"Yeah." He said, looking over his shoulder as if he could see what she was talking about. "I normally don't mind scratches on my back from women, but these hookers don't exactly do things like the other females I've met." He reached out a hand. "My name's Arsen."

"Rada." She said grasping his forearm.

"Well Rada, get comfy." He said. "Cuz from what I can tell they aren't going to be seeing to us any time soon."

"Don't worry, my friend Sarah will get us out of this…" She said, then as an afterthought. "Somehow."

"Wait a minute, you're friends with Sarah?" He asked and received a nod from the Slav. "Now that's one crazy hooker. She'll either get us out of this, or end up killing everyone."

"Ah, so you two have met!" Rada said, before exchanging stories about their mutual acquaintance.

Sarah awoke abruptly to the sound of the squeaky door being opened by Khepri and Asteri. She stood up quickly, not sure exactly what was going on and Eve quickly followed suit. The vampire princess then addressed her.

"I've set up some fruit and water in my private quarters. I know you must be hungry and we have a lot to discuss if I'm to have you back in the Amazon camp tonight." The last part was meant for Sarah alone.

Sarah simply looked to Eve who nodded. They followed Khepri to her quarters and saw that Asteri would be joining them as well. He lounged lazily in one of the chairs, looking utterly bored and bothered by the entire ordeal. Khepri took the seat next to him and motioned for the other women to sit on the other side of the table. Asteri started the dialogue after noting the stubbornness emanated from Sarah's face as she sat down and crossed her arms.

"So, it would seem that you Amazons were planning on causing quite a stir within our ranks what with your plan to kill us and all." He looked more at Sarah than Eve. "Your knowledge of our kind gives you a chance at negotiation rather than annihilation, so you should be quite pleased that you're still alive right now."

One side of Sarah's mouth turned up at his arrogance and her eyebrows rose in mock surprise. He was bullshitting her all the way. Asteri knew that the vampires' best chance for survival depended on them pulling off a surprise night time attack. They lost that chance because of Khepri and now had to be on the defensive. If anyone in the room had the upper hand on the situation it was Sarah. She allowed her body to relax into the chair after reaching for a grape and popping it in her mouth.

"Let's get a couple of things straight before we go any further here." She said. "First off, I am not an Amazon. Second my knowledge of your kind gives _you _a chance at negotiations, not _us._ And the only reason you have that is because Khepri was smart enough to see the consequences of an attack. If anything happens to Eve or myself the Amazons will come at you full force and they know exactly the best way to do that. You are beholden to us Asteri, and you don't act well enough to make me believe it's the other way around."

Asteri was fuming. How dare this human defy and humiliate him! He dug his nails into the arms of his chair to keep from bounding over the table and throttling her. As Khepri noticed his anger she quickly tried to remedy the situation.

"Sarah a great many Amazons would have died had the vampires been allowed to attack last night. Let's not forget that you've been shown a great kindness, and it might be in your best interest not to look a gift horse in the mouth." She warned.

Sarah studied her. There was almost a pleading in her eyes and for a split second she was thankful for what Khepri had done last night.

"What do you want?" She asked, getting to the point.

Khepri took a deep breath and offered up the peace that she'd made Asteri agree to the night before.

"The vampires can be a great ally to the Amazons. We could defend their borders from enemies or hostile travelers if they promised not to attack. Obviously as a condition of the peace we would want to keep all those we capture for food, and would require complete silence from the Amazons as far as the weaknesses of our people are concerned."

Sarah looked to Eve. Her eyes showed both anger and concern.

"That would be a start." Sarah said as she looked back to Khepri.

"A start?" Asteri asked, leaning forward.

"Yes, a start." Sarah answered. "You see if I'm keeping up with the math correctly three Amazons have gone missing from the tribe in the last few months. We know one of those is with the slavers, which means the other two likely fell victim to your 'people'. This is going to have to be reconciled and a simple gesture to take on some border patrol ain't gonna cut it."

Asteri stood and pounded his fists into the table before Khepri could stand to grab him by the shoulder.

"Calm down or I will kick you out of this meeting myself." She whispered in his ear. "You know she's right about having the upper hand here. Let's just see what else she wants."

He gritted his teeth as he looked at Sarah with deadly ferocity while he lowered back into his chair. Khepri was tense when she sat down and looked back to the girl.

_Please tone down your ego, Sarah. You've made your point. _She thought to herself.

"What do you suggest we do as recompense for the two Amazons?" She asked calmly.

"Luckily for you, my suggestion for peace would be mutually beneficial." She looked to Khepri hopefully; this proposal would be a bit more of a stretch. "As you know, the Amazons are having a little trouble with slavers right now. One of the sisters has been captured and more potentially could be if the assholes get their way. If the tribe tried to take them on with their limited forces it would really spread them thin, BUT if they were to receive help from the vampires, freeing the slaves would be a walk in the park. And honestly it works out well for everybody. Your people get to feed as much as they want on the slave traders and their hired thugs, and the Amazons get to take back their sister while sleeping better knowing that they won't be hunted for that reason for at least a little while."

"And I suppose our forces would make up the first wave in the attack?" Asteri asked skeptically.

"It makes more sense to do it that way." Sarah said. "The slavers don't know how to kill your people. As long as they are careful to dodge the wooden arrows, no harm should come to them."

"And how do we know your little warrior women aren't going to pull out the stakes after we've done all the dirty work?" He asked.

"You don't." Sarah answered. "Just like we don't know that your brood won't go for our jugulars once the slavers are taken care of. Unfortunately we're just going to have to have a little faith in each other."

Khepri looked between Sarah and Asteri. It almost seemed as if she had sold him on the idea. He sat back in his chair and stroked his chin before finally addressing his sister.

"A belly full of slaver blood does sound appetizing. What do you think?"

"I think we can agree to your terms." She said to Sarah. "The question is will the Amazon Queen?"

"That would be the meeting where I enter as the underdog." She said. "But I'm pretty good at arguing; at least enough to get my way."

Khepri smiled at her before she could stop herself and Sarah looked away in an effort to quash the butterflies that were starting to build in her stomach.

"It's settled then." Khepri said, somewhat saddened by Sarah's disconnection. "You will be released as soon as you're ready to go back to the camp, and Eve will stay here to ensure your return."

They all stood to adjourn the meeting and Khepri couldn't stop the words before they left her mouth.

"I'd like to see you alone before you set off, Sarah. If that's alright." She said with trepidation.

When Sarah nodded Khepri looked to her brother.

"Would you mind escorting Eve back to her cell?"

"Of course." He said with a sigh as he gently grabbed Eve's bicep and led her. "It's not as if I haven't always dreamed about being a lowly prison guard."

Once they both were on the other side of the door he spoke candidly to the messenger while they walked.

"You do know the only reason one of our groups isn't dead yet is because those two have a thing for each other, right?" He asked nonchalantly.

"It's not all that surprising." Eve said. "I'd be willing to bet that nearly every war and peace was brought on by some kind of childish hormone."

He looked at her quizzically and smiled.

"Indeed."

The tension was thick in Khepri's quarters as the two women looked at each other. The vampire knew it would be her duty to break the silence, but she'd forgotten altogether what she wanted to say as she studied the girl in hopes for some kind of hint as to what she was feeling.

Sarah finally broke the silence herself. "You wanted to talk to me?"

It wasn't filled with sarcasm or annoyance, but tentativeness and trepidation. It was endearing to the older woman. This girl could face off with her brother and not bat an eyelash, but put her alone in a room with someone that she has feelings for and she became meek as a kitten. Knowing that she now had the upper hand gave Khepri the confidence not only to speak, but to move in closer to the girl.

"If the Amazons don't agree to this peace we may find ourselves on opposite sides of the battle."

As she moved in closer she could hear Sarah's heart start to beat faster.

"Yeah, well as far as I know neither one of us can die so it looks to be a pretty long battle no matter who has the most casualties." Sarah tried to joke as she pulled her eyes away yet again.

"I won't fight you Sarah." She said, raising a hand to the girl's cheek causing her to look back up into her own. "I know you probably won't believe this, but I don't want to hurt you anymore than I already have."

Sarah felt like she could swim for hours in the blue eyes that looked down into hers. And for a second she allowed herself that small pleasure. But when Khepri slowly started to lower her face for a kiss Sarah remembered the ones that occurred on the night she'd found out about all the lies, and it caused her to pull Khepri's hand away.

"You've got to stop this whole 'hot vampire seduction' thing." She said. "I'll admit it may be one of my top five sexual fantasies, but it's not gonna happen. I know you can tell that I have feelings for you, but I don't want them, and if there is one part of me that's stronger than my libido, it's my pride. You lied to me Khepri. A peace treaty may patch things up with the Amazons, but I'm not going to allow myself to get caught up again in someone who betrayed me."

Khepri looked at the ground and swallowed what little pride she had left.

"You talked earlier about the fact that we'd have to have faith in each other if we are to come together to face the slavers." She looked back up at Sarah. "If we can accomplish that, maybe one day there will be a chance for you to have enough faith in me to at least start again with a friendship."

"Let's just start with getting the treaty accepted by the Amazons." She said, a hint of hope in her voice. "That's where you're going to have to have faith in me."

"I do." The vampire said as she moved in close enough to whisper it in Sarah's ear, then walked past her to open the door.

Sarah took a deep breath and mentally prepared herself for the fight she knew she was about to have with Varia.

To be continued…


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 – How the Lines get Blurred

"8.5." Rada said as she and Arsen huddled closely to the small barred window of the jail.

"8.5? Are you kidding?" he asked. "She's a 6. Maybe a 7.5 at best."

"No way man, she is blondie; 8.5" Rada argued.

"What's a blondie?" Arsen asked.

"You know; fair hair." She answered.

"Did Sarah teach you that derogatory label right after she taught you this misogynistic game?" He joked.

"In fact she did." Rada answered.

"And what about the obsession with well endowed blond girls? Did you get that from her too?" He asked.

"Oh no, that's all me." She said.

"Solid 9, right there with the fighting staff." He pointed out quickly.

"Ooo. Good one." The Slav agreed and surveyed the rest of the camp. "Front gates: seven point… wait a minute, I think that's Sarah"

"You were gonna give Sarah a seven?" he asked, not seeing the importance of her presence.

"It is her!" She said before calling out. "Sarah! Sarah! Over here!"

"You know it might be wise to note that if it weren't for her neither of us would be in this situation. Calling out her name could be more trouble than it's worth." He noted, but was ignored.

Sarah heard her name being yelled by a familiar voice as she entered the camp. It didn't take her long to recognize the accent and she hurried off in its direction.

"Rada?" She called out as she came closer to the source.

"Sarah, come over here. I'm in the jail." She said.

As the time traveler reached the barred windows her brow furrowed.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She asked, not waiting for an answer. "More importantly what the hell are you doing _in_ _there_?"

"Well you told me that I could come see you if things didn't work out at home, so I came here and these bitches locked me up because I'm a foreigner." She spat.

"Because you're a foreigner?" Sarah asked, amazed at Amazonian bigotry.

"Technically they called her a vampire." Arsen answered before greeting her. "Hi Sarah."

"Why did they think you were a vampire?" Sarah asked before looking Rada over and remembering the Slav wore all black from heat to toe. "Actually, never mind, I think I've figured it out. Anyway, I'm going to talk to the queen now, I'll make sure she lets you out."

Sarah turned to leave, but Rada grabbed her by the sleep shirt she'd been wearing since the night before.

"Wait, what's going on around here? Where's Eve?" She asked.

"It's a long story and I don't have much time." She said. "Just keep your guard up. Some serious fighting is about to go down."

"Please tell me you didn't start another war." She said.

Sarah thought for a moment before answering. "I actually don't think it's big enough to be considered a war. But seriously, I gotta go. I'll come back for you soon."

As Rada watched Sarah retreat to the queen's hut she shook her head.

"You wouldn't think that one girl could go around causing so much trouble." She said.

"Oh I'm never surprised anymore by the damage that can be caused by one female." he said. "Take my back for example."

"This is very true." Rada agreed.

"Let me see if I understand you correctly." Varia said as she stood up and braced her hands on her desk.

Sarah knew good and well that any statements following the phrase 'Let me see if I understand you correctly.' would be nothing more than a regurgitation of the presented proposal followed by a few derogatory phrases about the presenter's mental state. Varia was restating her treaty terms perfectly. All that was left were that defaming comments that always followed.

"That's correct." Sarah said, bracing for impact.

"Have you lost your Gods be damned mind?" She roared.

Sarah simply swallowed and waited for the rest of the queen's wraith to pummel her.

"You want us to not only let the vampire's live, but to fight beside them?" She asked as she came out from behind her desk and proceeded to circle Sarah as would a vulture to a dying gazelle.

"These monsters have killed and eaten two of our sisters, they have threatened the entire Greek Amazon nation, AND they have kidnapped my…" She paused with that one. "…subject, Eve. What makes you think I would ever allow them to escape punishment for their crimes, let alone trust them enough to take up arms with them?"

She was mere inches away from Sarah's face once she'd finished.

"Varia, I know you're angry right now." Sarah said before realizing that understatements might not be the best tactic.

The queen grabbed her by the scruff of her shirt and slammed her up against the door.

"I asked you for an answer, not a placation." She growled.

Sarah had enough. She used her arms to push Varia back then spoke again. "Then stop acting like a child that needs to be pacified. I'm doing my best here, and you have to realize that you don't have a whole lot of choices anymore."

"That's because you let one of them in here and told her our entire plan." Varia growled.

"And without me you'd be fighting a war on two fronts!" She yelled back. "Those slavers are coming for your people whether you accept help from the vampires or not. And let me tell you something else, if you don't accept help from them you're all doomed. You may be able to take out the lackeys, but the leaders can't be killed by sunlight and stakes. I know from personal experience. They are immortal in every sense of the word and they will hunt down each and every one of you if you kill their tribe."

Varia looked at her with disgust. "And which side would you be rooting for Sarah? The Amazons' or your little girlfriend's?"

Sarah snorted and scowled.

"You can antagonize me all you want Varia, it won't solve your problems. I'm just the messenger here. You can either take my advice and kill two birds with one stone or you can be the reason the Greek Amazons fall; your choice."

Varia gritted her teeth and crossed her arms as she weighed out her options. She knew Sarah was right, in the end, but it killed her to ally with the monsters that killed two of her sisters.

"I'll accept the treaty on one condition: Eve comes back before the battle." She said, still not knowing if she truly believed she would. "They can keep you."

Sarah clenched her fist. This was yet another hurdle she'd have to overcome. It was going to be hard to get the vampires to simply let Eve go.

"Think of it as an act of good faith." Varia interrupted her thoughts. "Unless you're afraid they'll kill you."

Sarah's feelings for Varia were on their way from annoyance to hatred, but she tried to keep her cool.

"Oh I'll find a way to get Eve back here, but you're gonna have to show a little of that good faith first."

"What, to the vampires?" She asked as if that would be answer enough.

"No, to me." Sarah said. "I have no promise that you won't just try to attack the vampire's once you have Eve and that would put me in a mighty fine predicament. So unless you want me to just go back to the vampires and tell them their best bet is to mount an offensive you'll give me what I want."

"And that is?" Varia asked.

"Rada will be set free from your jail." Sarah said. "She's done nothing to your people and she is not a vampire. Plus that actually gives you a little insurance. I know you've been so kind it would be rude of me to side with the vampires, but just in case I did get that wild hair up my ass, Rada will ensure I have a hard time crossing sides."

"Are you really threatening me?" The queen asked incredulously.

"I'm on the fence." Sarah bluffed. "So I guess if I were you I'd meet the small demand I'm making."

Varia pulled a knife from her boot, bounded over to Sarah once more. This time she didn't bother backing her against the wall; deciding to punch her and put a knife to her throat instead.

"If anything, and I mean anything goes wrong with your little plan this time I will personally hunt you down before anyone else gets a chance to. And it will not be a slow and merciful death." She said to the girl as the knife dug in to her skin.

"I'm sure that'll be fun for both of us." She said angrily.

Varia pushed the knife harder against her throat and Sarah winced a bit, but did not look away.

"Let the foreigner out of the jail, but have her followed. She's not to leave the camp." Varia said to her guards, not moving her eyes from Sarah's until they were gone.

"Go back to your whore and give her my message." The queen said after shoving Sarah to the floor.

As Sarah exited the building and headed for the gates, she saw Rada. She knew Amazon eyes were on her, so she'd have to be quick about anything said to her friend. She grabbed her in a fierce hug and said loudly. "So good to see you again, my friend!"

Rada was confused, but she hugged her back anyway.

"Good to see you too." She said.

"Listen carefully Rada, I'm only gonna have time to say this once." She whispered to the Slav. "If you get a chance to run away from here, you take it. Things are going to get really ugly very soon."

"Sarah, what…" Rada tried to ask what was going on, but failed.

"Alright, I'll see you later." Sarah said as she pulled away. "Be safe."

Her last words were coupled with a look that was both sad and serious. Rada answered her with a nod and she immediately turned to exit the camp. There was no time to waste.

As the Slav turned to take in the rest of the village she saw a group of Amazons standing and staring at her.

"You got a problem?" She asked them.

"No, we were just wondering what's going on with Sarah." Zoe answered.

"We're her friends." Meg asserted when Rada simply stood there.

"Shouldn't you be in jail then?" Rada asked. "Seems like Amazons don't like Sarah's friends very much."

"Well we're her Amazon friends." Zoe said, her voice taking on a tone of aggravation. "So what's going on?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." Rada said. "All I know is she got me out of the jail and took off."

"Well why don't you come with us and we'll fill you in on what's been going on." Rah said, easing the tension. "At least then we'll all be on the same page."

Rada shrugged and nodded before following the group. It wasn't as if she had anything better to do.

Sarah made her way through the trees as the sunlight filtered through. Her mind was far too busy at the moment to appreciate the beauty of the forest. She kept her eyes on various mental markers she'd made to find her way back to the nest. Her focus was so great she didn't hear the creaking in the tree above her. In fact, she wouldn't have noticed Asteri dropping down right in front of her if she hadn't bumped into him.

"Shit." She exclaimed as she backed away. "Didn't your mother ever tell you it's not polite to sneak up on people?"

"Actually her advice was much to the contrary." He said with a smile. "As you can imagine."

"Of course." Sarah said, her eyes not shying away from his predatory gaze. "What are you doing out here?"

"Khepri thought I might keep an eye out for you just in case you got lost." He answered, barely trying to conceal the lie.

"More like you wanted to make sure I didn't bring any of my friends back with me to torch your little hiding place." She asserted.

"Aren't you the clever girl?" He demeaned. "Shall we walk?"

As they trekked through the woods Sarah remained silent and Asteri tried to get some information from her.

"The pesky Amazon queen didn't agree to your offer, did she?" He asked.

"Oh no, she agreed." Sarah said, concealing the rest of the deal.

"Well, well, well. I may have miss judged you." He countered. "What were her terms?"

"Nothing that can't wait to be discussed in front of Khepri." She answered.

"About that… My sister, clever as she may seem, can sometimes be a bit short sighted. She may not see the potential in recruiting someone like you as our ally instead of some insipid go between."

"Really?" she asked with an eye roll.

"Yes, from what I've seen, you have the ability to talk a great many people into doing what you want. That's a wonderful skill to possess and not something you run across every day. If you were to use it to, let's say, make our little Amazon problem go away completely I'd wager you would be rewarded greatly by our people."

"Wow." She said, allowing the conversation to go just a bit further. "And exactly what kind of reward could I possibly want from a small group of vampires?"

"Well for starters we happen upon quite a few riches throughout our search for food and since money means nothing to us, I'd wager we could make you a very rich woman." He stopped walking then turned to her, putting his hands on her shoulders. "But if you could let your imagination wander a bit you'd see our true potential. Think about an army of immortal soldiers with super strength at your disposal. You could take over any province you wanted with nothing more than a simple order. The potential for power is only as limited as your own thoughts."

"And what makes you think I give a shit about that kind of power?" She asked, completely disgusted by his offer.

He studied her for a bit before one side of his lips lifted in a smirk.

"You certainly have put yourself in the most powerful position in this little dispute." He said, relishing the silence that followed as Sarah's eyes grew wide with realization.

"That's just…" She faltered. "I'm just doing this because…"

"Because it benefits you." He said with acceptance. "You can stand there all day and tell yourself this is all very philanthropic, but in the end you are saving a people that have killed men for merely looking at a naked woman…all because they're your friends. Turn down my offer if you must, but don't pretend it's out of some sense of right and wrong because it isn't. You have your loyalties just like everyone else. I'm simply trying to offer an option that would leave you with a little less scarring." His eyes moved to small wound on her neck then back up to her face.

Sarah swallowed hard.

"Your offer is still declined." She said as if she still believed in her position.

But the sad truth was he had rattled her. She decided to change the subject to keep her mind occupied.

"Why are you so worried about an attack anyway? If you're anything like your sister, the Amazons shouldn't be able to kill you. So what does it matter?"

"You certainly have a dark view of the world." He mused. "You're correct, my sister and I cannot die by means that would kill the other vampires, but that doesn't mean we don't value their lives." He answered.

"Not their lives." Sarah corrected. "Their lives you already took."

"Look, I'm not going to argue semantics with you." He was starting to get angry. "The point is, my sister and I are more than likely going to live forever. We'd rather do so with people we like around, rather than just each other."

"You're kidding, right?" She was flabbergasted. "Lonely vampires? That's why you've got this horde of minions? Now that is interesting… in a pathetic kind of way."

"Humans don't seek out companionship throughout their lives?" He asked, trying to prove a point.

"Not companionship that requires us to drink each other's blood." She answered.

"No, that's right." He said. "You 'people' just kill each other for gods that laugh at your ignorance."

"Oh holy Christ." Sarah said as her face cringed.

She was starting to realize that she might actually have a lot in common with Asteri. The new knowledge worked to temper her tone.

"Do all of your subjects get a choice in the lives they lead?" She asked, curiously, not accusingly.

"Do all people get a choice in the lives they lead?" He answered, his tone softening too.

She took a deep breath and decided not to go any deeper down the rabbit hole. She was starting to second guess not only her views of the vampires, but her views on the morality of all societies.

"So why are you and Khepri different?" She asked. "Why can't you die?"

Asteri chuckled, and stared at her.

"Do you really think that just because you now see me in a different way that I feel differently about you?" He asked as if it were the most absurd notion in the world. "Until you're no longer siding with the enemies of my vampires, you remain my enemy. You may want to try to remember it."

Sarah mentally chastised herself. In a short walk, she'd been completely mentally disarmed by her opponent and now he was rubbing it in her face.

"I'll put some string around my finger." She said as she trudged forward, determined to keep her mouth shut for the rest of the trek.

The door to the cell clicked open and Eve eyed Khepri warily, waiting for the vampire to speak. Khepri crossed her arms and leaned against the door after shutting it. Her eyes searched Eve's for any sign of fear, but found none. This frustrated and amused her, all at the same time.

"So did you give Sarah the old 'I told you so' when you found out who I was?" She asked.

Eve's eyes remained stoic as she took her time answering. She wanted Khepri to get the sense that though, as a vampire, she may physically have the power in this situation, and Eve would control all conversation paths.

"You know, Sarah and I haven't known each other very long, but in a very short time I've learned what is, most likely, the tragedy of her very person. See, Sarah is a very reckless individual by nature, she just can't help herself. There's some kind of insatiable urge within her that absolutely will not settle with living life quietly. She comes out swinging, wears her heart on her sleeve and lives life out loud." She stood and started to step closer to Khepri. "Now this wouldn't be a problem if she were not also her most critical judge. Even if I was angry with her for simply following her heart and not watching for signs of treachery," she spat the word as she came right up to Khepri, "I could never say anything that would punish her more than she's punishing herself right now. And now that she's realized exactly what you are, I won't have to worry about telling her 'I told you so' again. She's smarter than that."

"You really think so?" Khepri looked down at the messenger and tried to sound sure of herself. She couldn't believe the power Eve could command with only a few words. Her very presence was imposing.

"You think I don't see the looks you give her? That I don't recognize the game you're playing?" Her eyes were shooting daggers. "You're trying to charm her over to your side and it's not going to work."

"Don't be so sure about that." Khepri spoke with a smirk, but a hitch in her voice gave away her insecurities.

"She's turned you down already hasn't she?" Eve asked

The Messenger had her answer without one word exiting Khepri's mouth and she smiled in victory. Knowing she'd won, she started walk back to her cot as if to signal the end of the dialogue.

"I really am trying to make peace here." Khepri said.

"Oh, I actually do believe that. In fact, it's the only reason I've allowed you to speak with me without taking it upon myself to see how far the bounds of your immortality really go." She sat down casually as she saw Khepri's nostrils start to flair in anger. "See, something you don't know about me is that I was a very violent person before I found the way of love. And although I haven't harmed another person since that time, I still have urges… And you don't count as a person as far as I'm concerned."

Khepri didn't know if she was being bated into a fight so that Sarah would come back and find Eve beaten, or if Eve was simply that sure of her skills. Either way, there was nothing she could say to a statement such as that. Her purpose in coming to speak with the Messenger was to try to win over her trust. The only thing that had been accomplished was that she now knew exactly where she stood with Sarah's little friend. Eve had certainly turned out to be a surprise.

She turned to leave without saying a word.

"So glad you could stop by for a little visit." Eve called to her back.

_How did that happen? _The vampire asked herself as she walked back to her room.

Sarah knocked on Khepri's door about an hour after her conversation with Eve. The vampire took a deep breath before opening it and asking the girl in. She was surprised that Asteri had not accompanied her.

"Where is Asteri?" She asked.

"He said he wanted go lie down, or something." Sarah said as she entered. "It was weird."

Khepri's brow furrowed in confusion, but she let the matter drop. "How did your talk go with Varia?" She asked, closing the door behind them.

It was Sarah's turn to take a breath now.

"She wants Eve back in the camp before she'll agree to any further terms. Once she's safely returned, Varia will make plans to meet and take down the slavers."

Khepri narrowed her eyes. She felt like she was losing battles left and right as the day went on.

"What about you?" She asked, skeptically.

"I'm staying." She said. "But…" It was then that her little talk with Asteri started to get to her. "… that isn't exactly a sign of reassurance."

Khepri studied Sarah's face to try to figure out what she was saying and ended up noticing a fresh bruise near her mouth and a small cut at the base of her neck; a stream of blood drying below it. The vampires eyes narrowed and her mouth scowled.

"Did they do that to you?" She pointed at the cut then moved to wet a rag in her water basin.

"Yeah." Sarah answered as Khepri came closer with the rag and dabbed cleaned the girl's neck and chest. "The blood doesn't bother you?"

A smile broke through the scowl for a brief moment as the vampire answered. "It's enticing, I'll admit, but I do have some self control."

Sarah chuckled as Khepri stepped away. There was something solemn about the woman, she looked almost defeated. It made it harder for Sarah to say what she had to say.

"If you send Eve back there's not guarantee Varia won't simply attack the nest." Sarah said. "She won't bat an eye at harming me."

The very thought of Sarah being hurt caused her chest to grow heavy, though she did not show it.

"And if we don't send Eve back?" She asked.

"We still risk an attack from the Amazons, only this time Eve may be caught in the crossfire and I won't let that happen." Sarah said soberly.

Khepri felt her annoyance with the Messenger start to rise. Eve was right. No matter what the vampire did now, she still wouldn't come before Sarah's best friend.

"Why have you even told me any of this? You've obviously made up your mind as to how you want this to turn out." She asked. "What's to stop me from just killing the Messenger now and slaughtering the whole damn village after?"

"You don't want to lose your vampires." Sarah said, assured by her talk with Asteri.

"My brother doesn't want to lose the vampires; I will do whatever is best for me." She raged.

Sarah's eyes grew wide. She'd been duped. That whole talk had been nothing more than a maneuver to help her open up and be honest with Khepri and now she'd tipped her entire hand. The vampire saw the startled look on her face and wondered why, for the first time, Sarah was allowing her fear to show through. It didn't show for long though. Within seconds the fear turned to anger.

"You put him up to it, didn't you?" Sarah asked.

"What are you talking about?" Khepri spat back.

"Oh, don't give me that shit. You sent Asteri out in the woods to soften me up so I'd spill all the details to you."

"Actually I didn't, but after my little chat with Eve I sure wish I'd had so much foresight. She made sure to let me know where your loyalties would lie after everything that's happened. All that talk about me having to have faith in you, when you knew damn well you'd never allow yourself to have faith in me."

Sarah's voice was elevating to a yell at this point. "You know last I checked I was in control of who I put my faith in. But I guess if you say Eve's got the job it must be true. Forgive me, Princess, for not realizing I could think for myself."

Khepri was about to start screaming back at her when she started to realize something: they'd both been played. Eve and Asteri wanted this war; they both wanted to solve the problem for good so it wouldn't arise again and now she and Sarah were at each other's throats ready to start the fighting in the very room in which they were standing.

"They're setting us up." She said.

"What?" Sarah asked, still not understanding. "Who?"

"Eve and Asteri; they're turning us against one another so we can have out this battle."

"Oh, come on." Sarah said. "Why would they do that?"

"Because they're thinking tactically, Sarah." Khepri said. "Eve used to lead an army; she knows that it's not wise to have a possible enemy right in your back yard. She wants to get rid of the vampires for good. And Asteri wants the exact opposite. He has ambitions to grow in numbers far more vast than what we have now. Taking over the Amazons would give him the perfect opportunity to get things started."

Sarah was starting to come around to her way of thinking. "But there's no way they could know we'd end up having this argument. It's not like Asteri knows me that well and even so he certainly wouldn't suspect that Eve would have talked to you unless…" Then it started to sink in.

"Unless they worked together in planning it." She chuckled at the irony of it all. "They're allying with each other now so they can start a war later."

Sarah started rubbing her temple in an effort to keep her brain from exploding. Everything had turned into such a mess.

"We should just start it all by killing them both." She said, defeated. "We're obviously the only ones who actually want this peace to work out."

Khepri wondered how the girl standing in front of her could invoke so many emotions within such a small amount of time. Since she'd entered the room the vampire's mood had changed from fear to protectiveness, to anger and now comfort. She moved closer to Sarah grabbed both of her hands before forcing the girl to look in her eyes.

"There has got to be a way to fix this. We just have to figure it out." She said, and then added. "But we have to trust each other."

Sarah nodded. "I don't think we have any other choice."

"I don't think its working." Eve said. "We'd be able to hear them fighting right now."

"If you know Sarah as well as I know my sister then it should work. Just calm down and be patient." Asteri said, looking around the cell for a place to sit and finding none worthy. "By the way, before we start trying to kill each other in this war could you please explain to my why you're going along with the plan to initiate it? Not that I don't appreciate the help, but I am curious as to how a Messenger of peace and love justifies this kind business."

Eve turned back to look at him.

"It's fairly simple, actually. I'm supposed to promote peace and love among humans; you're not human. You pose a threat to people that I love, therefore you must die."

He studied her for a moment then spoke.

"You know, I think it goes a bit deeper than that. I've heard about that little 'past' of yours and it would seem you have quite the case of bloodlust, my dear. Your main interest in this war may lie in the fact that you want to keep your precious Amazons safe, but deep down there's a part of you that can't wait to get back into the action."

She stared back at him with an angry expression on her face.

"You don't know anything about my past." She said. "You weren't there when I was murdering innocent people and you weren't there when I vowed to stop, so don't try to act like you know what I'm feeling."

"Your passion is really astounding once you let it out." He said. "I think I'm going to enjoy watching you fight."

"You won't get a chance. I'll make sure to take you out first." She growled.

"Hmm. Something tells me little Sarah may have forgot to relay a small detail to you about my ability to die."

Eve smiled. "No she didn't, you just don't have much imagination. My mother is the queen of pulling off the impossible and when it comes to immortals there's always a rock slide, a lava pit, or a magical dagger that seems to save the day just in the nick of time. Killing you will simply take little creativity."

"You know if it weren't for that peace loving, messenger of Eli thing I think I'd really get along with you." He said admiring her thought process. "I much prefer you like this."

This statement caught her off guard and it took a moment for Eve to recover.

"Well too bad for you, I'm on the good side." She looked away from him and out the bars.

He moved closer to her and leaned in to softly say "Don't be so sure about that." Then he moved passed her to exit the cell. If he was going to wait around for Sarah and Khepri to finish he might as well do it in the comfort of his own room.

"What about a peace and love spell?" Sarah asked as she paced the room. "I mean, if vampires exist, witches must too."

"If they do, I'm not acquainted with any." Khepri answered as she sat in her chair and watched Sarah. "What if we made a deal with the slavers instead?"

Sarah stopped and looked at Khepri as if she'd grown a third eye.

"Oh right, we're trying to keep the Amazons safe." The vampire said with a snap of her fingers. "Sorry, you'll have to forgive that one."

Sarah shook her head and continued to pace. "I wish Xena and Gabrielle were here, they'd know exactly what to do."

"Yeah, like what they did with Bacchus." Khepri said with soft indignation.

Sarah noticed the tone. "Do you have a connection to Bacchus or something?"

The vampire thought for a moment, but declined to answer. "That's a conversation for another time. I just mean that things would be a lot easier if all we had to do was take out the leader and the rest would follow."

"Yeah." Sarah said. She would have realized sooner that Khepri had just spelled out the solution to their problems, but her mind was too busy trying to figure out what Bacchus had to do with the vampires. Finally she gave up trying to map out all of the lore involved and focused back on what the woman had suggested.

"Wait, that's it!" Sarah exclaimed.

Khepri laughed. "Now it's your turn to apologize for wanting to kill an Amazon."

"No, we don't have to kill anyone. I just have to challenge Varia to a fight and beat her. Xena did that with Queen Melosa and all of the Amazons had to follow Gabrielle. I'll just fight as Eve's champion and fend off Varia until she admits defeat."

"_You_ are going to fight an angry Amazon queen?" Khepri asked.

"Well it's not like she can kill me, and if you've learned anything about me at this point, you should know that I am awesome at wearing people down when given ample time." Sarah said.

"But she can still hurt you. Would you like to go through the rest of your life without a limb or two?" The vampire stood as she spoke and moved toward Sarah.

"I've managed to come this far with all of my limbs. Plus it's not like we have any other options presenting themselves. This plan seems like the best bet."

"And how do you know Eve will demand the challenge for you?" Khepri was looking for any way out of this plan. "She's Varia's lover! Do you really think she's going to simply side with you?"

"She won't have a choice." Sarah said and paused to really think about what she was about to say. After finding her resolve she proceeded. "After I have a little chat with Eve, we'll send her back to the camp and tell them that we want to meet tonight. If the Amazons try to fight the vampires in any way, and Eve doesn't issue the challenge, then I'll fight on the side of the vampires and target Varia. And unlike the royal challenge, I'll go in for the kill with you on my side. If she cares about Varia and the Amazons she'll do as I say."

"And what if she simply decides to fight alongside the queen?" Khepri was absolutely astonished at Sarah's words. "Are you going to take the chance of Eve getting killed?"

"We all make our own decisions." Sarah said.

But even as the words fell off her tongue she felt sick to her stomach. She was angry at Eve, there was no doubt about it, but putting her in that kind of danger was something that truly made her feel like the bad guy. Of course the lines were so blurred at this point that nothing was simply black and white.

"Everyone, at some point, has to choose a side to fight for. I'm choosing the one that is willing to work for peace and I'll have to face the consequences of that. And whatever Eve chooses, she'll have to face her consequences too." She took a breath and tried to will herself to accept her own words. "You just make sure Asteri doesn't try anything. I can't be worrying about him as well."

"Believe me, you won't have to. I'll take care of that right after we're done here."

Sarah nodded and prepared herself for the talk she was about to have with Eve. Khepri could see the anguish and concentration on her face and wished she could simply make all of her problems go away. Instead she moved closer and put a hand on the girl's shoulder. Once Sarah looked up she spoke.

"If this doesn't turn out the way you plan, things could get very ugly for you. You're offering to fight your best friend and a member of your family to help protect my people. Whether you believe it's right or not, you know you'll torture yourself if anything happens to her." She brought her hand up to Sarah's face and softly stroked her cheek. "I'll only make this offer once, and I want you to think hard about it. I need you to be absolutely sure that this is what you want before you leave this room. If you have any doubts as to whether or not you're doing the right thing, I want you to leave with Eve. You can force her to go somewhere else with you; you can take her back to the Amazons and then leave all of this behind…" She paused; amazed at the next option she was willing to put on the table. "…or you can stay with the Amazons and fight with them."

It was now Sarah's turn to be shocked at what she heard. She simply stared at Khepri for a few seconds, not daring to do what she truly wanted. Her hand ached to bury itself in the woman's dark locks and bring their lips together, but that would complicate things even further than they already were. She couldn't afford to let passion in as yet another emotion warring for her attention. So instead she reached up to hold the cold hand that was caressing her face and placed a quick, but soft kiss on Khepri's palm, before addressing her.

"I'll always have doubts about whether I'm doing what's right in this situation, but I can promise you that I have no doubts now about what the right choice is for me." She looked at the hand she was holding then clasped it with a firm and confident grip. "I'm going to fight beside you, Khepri… whether the Amazons are fighting with us or against us."

Not wanting the emotions to go any further than they already had, Sarah briefly shook the hand she was holding then let go before exiting the room. There was a messenger she needed to talk to.

To be continued…


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 – Choosing Sides

Sarah entered the cell as soon as it was opened by the vampire guard. She was met with a hug from Eve which she did not return.

"Sarah, I'm so glad you're ok? What did Varia say?"

"Before she put the knife to my throat or after?" She asked as she disengaged Eve's arms and moved away from her.

"She put a knife to your throat?" She said with worry evident in her eyes.

"It's a lot better than shoving one in my back." Sarah's eyes were shooting daggers at the ones before her.

"What do you mean?" Eve asked, unable to hold her gaze

Sarah laughed lightly. "You suck at lying."

"Sarah I…" Eve started.

"Oh no!" The time traveler interrupted. "You don't get to talk right now. You're mouth has already done all the damage I'm going to allow it to do."

Eve remained silent as she watched Sarah pace angrily back and forth.

"You know, when I read Gabrielle's scroll about you being the new incarnation of Calisto's soul I truly couldn't wait to see how you turned out. Then I read all of your Livia stories and I had all these theories about how deep down Calisto must have always had a blood lust; the kind of thirst for destruction that would have arisen whether fostered by Xena's actions or not. But then you went and got all boring with your peace loving, hippie bullshit and I lost interest in you completely. It's only been since I've met you that I thought I had a grasp of who you really were. In the past few weeks I've seen you as this struggling, but sedated, ex-warlord who works very hard to make up for her past and control her violent tendencies."

"Sarah please…" Eve tried, but was cut off again.

"You see, now you're true colors are really starting to shine through. You know damn well this alliance is the best possible move for the Amazons, yet you cannot imagine turning down a fight that your precious God might be ok with." Sarah continued.

"You're wrong Sarah; I am the one who wants the best for the Amazons. You're the one who's having trouble controlling your desires. You're so fixated on that disgusting vampire that you can't see the risk of letting them all continue to live." Eve fired back.

"You know, where I come from, we tend to look down on people who want to wipe out an entire race."

"And where I come from we look down on ignorant fools who would protect soulless monsters who live merely to kill the innocent."

Sarah growled in frustration.

"How could you possibly know they don't have a soul, Eve?"

"How could you possibly know they do have one?" The Messenger countered.

"Because I can feel it when I'm with her!"

The cell got quiet as Sarah's last statement seemed to cling to the air between them. She knew it shouldn't have come out of her mouth and Eve knew that it gave her an advantage. They were silent for a few seconds before the Messenger spoke up.

"Sarah, you're confused." She put a hand on the girl's shoulder. "You're a very passionate person and right now you're being blinded by that passion. You can't see clearly because she's got you under some kind of spell. I need you to trust me here."

Sarah put her hand on Eve's and sighed.

"Do you want to know what one of the saddest parts of this whole situation is, Eve?"

Eve nodded and Sarah roughly removed her hand from her shoulder.

"It's that I honestly shouldn't trust either of you. I've been manipulated by you both in the past few days and I'm getting really tired of being played for the fool. So I'm simply going to place my trust in the person who was least recent with the whole 'dicking me over' process. Sadly, you don't get that honor."

"And what is that supposed to mean? Are you really going to side with that vampire and fight the Amazons?"

"That all depends on you, Eve." Sarah said, knowing that the Messenger wasn't going to like the next bit of dialogue. "Varia has asked that you be released from here before she'll even consider meeting with the vampires. Now, I think this is all just a clever ruse to get you out of the nest so she can torch the place. Once you're back in camp it'll be your job to make sure that everything goes according to plan: my plan! The Amazons and the vampires are going to ally with each other and fight off the slave traders. Then both sides will go about their merry way, never even thinking about attacking one another. However, if Varia decides she still doesn't like this plan, you are going to demand the royal challenge, naming me as your champion and then all I have to do is outlast her in the fight and we can go about our business."

Eve huffed and smirked at Sarah's arrogance.

"And what makes you think I'm going to do any of this?"

"Because you care about Varia and you don't want to watch her die."

Eve's anger was starting to blaze inside her.

"Are you threatening her?" Eve asked.

"Yeah, pretty much." Sarah said. "You help ensure that this war doesn't break out and I'll help make sure Varia stays alive. If you don't, I will personally guarantee that Varia's blood is the first to soil her precious Amazon land."

"You've gone insane!" Eve growled. "You're threatening violence to secure peace."

"And you're not?" Sarah fired back. "We're both on the wrong side here Eve because we're fighting against each other. That's something you started and it's going to come to an end one way or another. How it ends all depends on you."

"I could break every bone in your body right now and you'd never even have the chance to fight." She bluffed.

"And I could have every vampire in this crypt descend upon you with one command. Is that how you want to end it?" She held out her arm in offering. "If so, go ahead. You get to make the first move."

Eve studied her. "You know that was just a threat. I'd never really hurt you."

Sarah pulled her arm back walked closer to her. "You don't have to break my bones to hurt me, Eve. It's a bit late for statements like that."

Eve's body tensed as she realized the truth of it all. She stared at Sarah's eyes and noticed the anger had faded to pain. Sarah looked away quickly and moved past Eve to rest her hands on the cell bars.

"That's what this is all about isn't it?" The Messenger asked as the truth of the matter started to dawn on her. "You're not doing this to protect Khepri; you're doing it because you're angry with me. Because I betrayed you. God, you really are a part of the family."

"I'm doing it because, as far as I can see, it's the right thing to do." Sarah said.

"And what about your friends, Sarah? You made friends in that village, are you going to let them die in this fight just because you're mad at me?"

"Don't you dare try to manipulate me again!" The time traveler turned and pointed her finger at the Messenger. "Their fate is yours to decide, not mine. You made sure of that when you decided to work with Asteri in order to catapult this war."

"You're not deluded enough to believe that."

"Oh sweetheart, you can't even imagine the bounds of my delusions at this point. My brain has been fucked with by nearly everyone I've become close to around here. It's about time I started trusting myself." She called the guard over and he unlocked the door. "It's also time for this conversation to end. Tell Varia we'll be waiting in the woods just outside the camp after sundown. You've got till then to decide what you're going to do."

Eve walked to the opening, but paused in front of Sarah.

"Do you really think you can hold your own against Varia in a fight?" She asked.

Sarah's eyes met hers when she answered. "That's probably the only part of the plan that's a win/win situation for me. If I somehow manage to best her then we'll clean up this whole mess and you'll see that I'm right about the vampires."

"And if you lose?" The Messenger asked.

Sarah smiled. "Then that'll mean she's completely incapacitated me and this whole God forsaken situation will finally be out of my hands."

It was Eve's turn to look away now as she contemplated the defeated tone in Sarah's voice. She finally decided there was nothing left for her to say and walked away.

"And just so you know; the soulless vampire that is controlling my mind offered to let us both go, right before I came to speak with you."

The statement caused the Messenger to stop in her steps, but she did not turn back before walking out of the crypt. Sarah leaned sadly against the cell door as she watched her leave.

"For what it's worth," came the deep voice of the tall vampire standing guard, "I think you're on the right side."

"Heh!" Sarah let out a surprised laugh before patting the vampire on the shoulder. "Thanks pal, I appreciate that."

Khepri entered Asteri's bedroom and used her vampire speed to rush him against the wall. With her hand around his throat and a knife nailing one of his hands to the wall behind him, she growled deep in her throat.

"Are you insane?" He yelled after reeling in pain from his hand.

"No, but apparently you are! Going behind my back and working with Eve to try to start this war; I should be looking for a way to kill you right now instead of bothering with this ridiculous Amazon situation." She drew another knife and slammed it into his free hand then backed off and glared at him.

"Well, by Bacchus, you've made your point." He screamed. "Now let me go."

"Oh no; you're not going anywhere. You've caused too much trouble as it is. I am going to meet with the Amazons and should they find some way to defeat me I am going to tell them exactly where you are so they can have their way with you."

"Khepri this is crazy! You can't just betray your own flesh and blood because you have a crush on one worthless human." He reasoned.

She got up in his face again as she spoke through clenched teeth. "That 'worthless human' is going to be fighting beside me no matter what happens tonight, and I can trust her to do so; which is a lot more than I can say for you."

She pushed herself away and headed for the door as she spoke to him over her shoulder.

"If they do come for you, just remember that it was you who betrayed me first."

Asteri screamed at her to release him for a few seconds then stopped to analyze his situation. Even with his vampire strength he couldn't free his hands because the position was too awkward; both knives were slammed to the hilt in his palms. His best bet would be to slowly work at it for a few hours, but that would be very painful and he truly loathed pain.

As he tried to figure another way out of his current predicament a thought occurred to him that made him smile. His greatest hope, now, was that the vampires and the Amazons _would_ broker the peace that Sarah and Khepri so desperately wanted.

"Oh irony," he said to himself, "thou are a cold hearted bitch."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Zoe said to Rada. "You're telling us that Sarah is some immortal war hero who single handedly started a war in Chin that freed their people from oppression?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Rada answered.

"Are you sure we're talking about the same Sarah?" Meg asked.

"Look, I know she might seem a little slow in the head, and she's terrible at fighting, but Sarah somehow manages to save the day. You watch, she's gonna fix this whole problem between you guys and all those other people that hate you."

"She's going to have a hard time doing that." Anthony said. "Varia's not just going to agree to peace with the vampires. She's going to want to avenge the Amazons that died and she won't have too much opposition from the rest of the community. The Amazon's aren't exactly known for their even keeled sense of future prosperity when it comes to making amends for dead sisters."

"Sarah will think of a way out of it, I know she will." Rada said, though worry was starting to temper her voice.

"What if she doesn't?" Rah piped in. "I did a little eave's dropping when she was talking to the Queen. Sarah threatened to switch sides if we didn't make peace."

"Then we will just switch sides too." Rada said.

A loud laugh tore out of Anthony's mouth and the rest of the Amazons looked at him as if he were crazy. He quickly reigned in the outburst.

"Sorry about that." He apologized.

"You may be able to just jump over the fence like that, but the rest of us don't have that option." Zoe said. "This is our family and we have to fight beside them whether they're right or wrong."

"It's cute that you still believe in such notions." Rada said. "Let's pray you live long enough to realize that 'family' is just a word; it doesn't stop the people held within its bounds from being wrong. And it certainly doesn't stop them from betraying you in the end."

They all simply stared at her until Anthony's voice broke the tension.

"Okay, so obviously somebody has some issues that need to be worked out at a later date and time."

"Things really would be a lot easier if we just accepted the peace." Rah said.

"We're all going to pretend you didn't say that." Zoe warned. "Seriously Rah, you can be killed if the wrong person hears you disagreeing with whatever the queen decides to do."

They were all quiet for a few moments.

"She is right." Anthony said. "If we fight the vampires at night we'll probably all end up…"

"Zippit!" Zoe silenced him. "We'll end up dead for sure if this conversation continues."

The silence lasted for a few more moments before Meg spoke up as well.

"You know if we went into battle against every nation that killed one of our sisters the Amazons would be extinct."

"Oh for Artemis' sake, what do I have to do to get you people to understand how dangerous it is to disagree with the queen?" Zoe put her hand to her head.

"Sarah did it, and she's still alive." Rada said.

"That's because she's immortal!" Zoe reasoned.

"But I don't think the queen knows that." Rah interjected.

Zoe stood up. "OK, it's clear now that you've all gone insane. I am leaving this tent and I suggest you all do the same. We need to separate so that this whole line of conversation will cease. I'm pretty sure you've all got weapons that need sharpening."

The entire group of Amazons sighed then did as Zoe said; the night ahead weighing heavy on their minds. Left up to her own devices, Rada decided to snoop around the hut. With little effort she found a crate full of wineskins. Smiling, she pulled one out and sniffed its contents.

"Well, if I'm gonna die because of these crazy bitches I might as well die drunk." She said before turning up the skin.

As Eve entered the camp, the choices resting on her shoulders weighed heavy on her steps. Even if she wanted to go through with Sarah's plan, how could she possibly do so without betraying Varia? She was in a no win situation; either Sarah would suffer or Varia would. But what about the Amazons? Was Sarah right?

_Am I simply giving in to her thirst for violence?_

"I've come so far from that." She said softly to herself. "Am I really doing this because I want to be back in action?"

She prayed for an answer to that question, but none came. As she entered the queen's hut she was greeted with a strong embrace from the woman she loved.

"Thank the Gods you're safe!" Varia exclaimed as she pulled back from the hug to kiss Eve. "I was so worried about what those monsters would do to you."

"I'm fine, love." Eve answered and kissed her hard on the lips.

The room emptied and the Messenger pushed forward, backing Varia up onto the desk. Her tongue delved into the queen's mouth and caused the queen to wrap her legs around her assailant. Eve wasted no time divesting Varia of her top as she sucked generously at her corded neck. The Amazon moaned and clawed at Eve's back; the pressure serving only to heighten the Messenger's arousal.

"I'll kill them all for what they've done to you." Varia said breathlessly.

Chill bumps rose on the Eve's arms and in that moment she realized that her romantic ardor was not coming from a place of love and relief but from something much darker: battle lust. She pulled back quickly and looked into Varia's eyes. The passion between them was palpable and, no matter where it came from, it felt so right. She was there, holding on to someone who truly believed in her; someone who wanted exactly what she wanted. The guilt that Sarah had laid upon her seemed to vanish into thin air. She placed a hand on the back Amazon's neck as she pulled her into another searing kiss. The hand then followed a path down Varia's throat and paused briefly to tweak a straining nipple before descending down her taut abdomen to her warm, wet crotch.

"The Amazons will not placate a race of monsters just to recruit help against a pack of lowly slave traders." She said as she moved the cloth barrier aside and stroked the dark haired beauty before her. "The Amazons have been bowing down to greater enemies for far too long and it's time that mode of leadership came to an end."

Varia gasped when Eve entered her.

"We will annihilate the vampires or force them to bow to our will." She said, pushing the queen's upper body down against the desk.

She pumped hard and fast into her lover and reveled in the cries that followed.

"Sarah is going to try to use me against you. Let her." She commanded as she leaned down to swallow Varia's moans with her mouth before pulling away to speak. "I know her secrets, and I know how you can defeat her."

"Believe me, that won't be a problem." Varia managed to say through bated breath.

Eve chuckled. "I know, my love, but there are things you need to understand first. You can't just kill her; she's an immortal."

Varia was about to stop Eve's amorous actions but was silenced by another kiss.

"You'll have to incapacitate her." She increased her thrusts. "Cripple her, if you must, but you won't be able to kill her."

As Eve's movements grew harder and faster Varia nearly lost all interest in the strategic conversation that was taking place. And as her lust increased, Eve too began to focus on the physical action at hand. But as she felt the queen's climax approaching she felt the need to seal it with one last bit of advice.

"You'll fight her with a staff." She focused her hand more on the queen's hardened nub and reveled in the accelerated vocal result. "And you'll finish her off by breaking her legs."

As Varia climaxed her own legs wrapped themselves tightly around Eve. Once the tremors stopped she looked up at her partner with questions in her eyes.

"What's going on, Eve?"

Eve leaned down and kissed her softly.

"Two wrong sides are fighting to be right." She said sadly before placing one more brief kiss upon her queen's lips.

Sarah entered Khepri's room and softly closed the door before moving to stand in front of the vampire.

"How'd it go?" Khepri asked.

Sarah's eyes looked sad and defeated.

"I think it's going to be a long night." She answered softly before looking down.

Khepri gently raised her chin back up.

"I know you understand that I can't call this off." She said, waiting for, and receiving, a nod of acceptance from Sarah. "But I want you to know that you can still walk away."

Sarah sighed before answering.

"No, I can't." She turned and walked toward the vampire's small bar and picked up a bottle of blood. Feeling the weight of it in her hand and held it up to the light to glance at the shadows it made.

"I know you've been more than generous about this whole situation, but I'm afraid I need to ask for more favors from you." She said as she contemplated where the blood came from.

Khepri came from behind her and gently took the bottle from her hands; placing it back on the bar. She then slowly turned Sarah around until their faces were inches away from each other.

"I don't know if you've realized this yet, but I seem to have a hard time denying you what you want." She said as she brought one hand up to stroke the girls face. "All you have to do is ask."

Tears started to sting at Sarah's eyes, but she held them back. She wanted to ask Khepri to take her away from all of this. She wanted to leave it all behind and lose herself in the woman whose mere presence could intoxicate her so greatly. But she knew her own mind would never allow such an escape. She could be on the other side of the Atlantic and still know that there would be so much death with her name on it if she refused to see out her destiny on the lands she'd begun to hate so much. So instead of asking what she truly wanted, she settled for what she needed.

"I need you to promise me that should Varia accept a challenge from me, that you won't allow anyone to attack until the fight is over." She asked.

"Sarah, I can't just let her…" Khepri warned.

"Not until the fight is over!" Sarah said, fiercely, then softened her tone. "Please, Khepri."

If she'd ever heard Sarah use the word 'please' before she couldn't remember. And it didn't matter, for the way she said it now was enough to make the vampire afford her any wish she asked. Finally, she nodded with trepidation.

"The second thing I have to ask you for is this: if there is any possible way my friends can be spared I need you to try to see to their safety. You've met them all before and I hope that maybe something can be done to…"

"I'll tell my vampires to look out for them, but I can't make any promises that they won't get caught in the crossfire." She pledged honestly.

Sarah nodded. "I can't ask for much more than that." She looked down.

"There's something else, isn't there?" Khepri asked.

The time traveler tensed before she offered up her final request.

"Make sure Eve survives." It was supposed to sound like a plea, but came out more as a command.

Khepri let out an audible growl and turned to walk away from her.

"She betrayed you and still you can't stop yourself from caring about what happens to her." She spat.

"Kinda like how I've tried to help you." Sarah argued. "She might be wrong right now, but she's still my friend."

"Yeah, and I'll bet my immortality that right now your 'friend' is telling Varia exactly how to beat you tonight." Khepri said, turning angrily to face Sarah.

"I don't care if she is." Sarah said, stunning the vampire. "Love and friendship don't exist on some kind of linear string, Khepri; you can't just cut them loose."

"Love and friendship, huh? And as far as Eve's concerned, which one of those sentiments do you lean more toward?"

Sarah stared at her as if she'd grown a third eye. "You want to tell me exactly what you're implying there?"

"I think you know." Khepri said, annoyed.

"You've got to be kidding me." Sarah said, in English, to the ceiling as she threw her hands up in the air. "I haven't had sex in like 2000 years and yet I get accused of banging people left and right."

Khepri simply stared at her in confusion until Sarah decided to address her again.

"Ok, let's get something straight: I am not sleeping with anyone and when I say anyone I mean Eve, or you, or whomever else you people may think I've got a thing for. And even if I was I'm not led around by my crotch, so let's just stop making assumptions about my moral fiber."

Khepri looked down and nodded in agreement.

"Good, glad we got that straight. Now, would you please do me a favor and promise me that you will do all that is in your power to make sure that my completely platonic friend Eve escapes from all of this unharmed?" She softened her voice.

Again Khepri nodded. "I promise to do my best."

"That's all I can ask for." Sarah acquiesced. "Did you talk to Asteri?"

"Don't worry about him. He'll be nailed down for a while." She answered, then her body tensed before she spoke again. "The sun has set; we should be going."

"Yeah, I guess so." Sarah nodded as she moved toward the vampire. "Listen, I don't want you to think that I'm not grateful for all that you've done for me. I know that you didn't have to do any of it; you could have just eaten us all and called it a day, but you didn't. I wanted to say thank you for all of it. I know they're just words, but I truly am in your debt."

Khepri smiled down at the girl. She was so young and yet so serious. Raising her hand she playfully pinched one of Sarah's cheeks.

"Don't worry; when all of this is over I'm sure I'll think of some way for you to work off that debt." She said with a smirk.

Sarah's eyes grew wide with surprised and she simply stumbled over her words. Not sure what the correct response was.

"Shh." Khepri silenced her. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Now let's go; we have dozens of angry Amazons to deal with."

"Right." Sarah said, as she followed the vampire and contemplated a variety of fun and interesting ways to pay her back.

As Zoe made her way to the podium for Varia's rally speech she lit up a quick smoke and tried to calm her nerves. Battle really was not her strong suit and she hated the idea of going up against either of the potential enemies they were to face tonight. As the smoke filtered through her system and hit her blood stream she felt a slight tingling sensation, but nothing near the sedation she sought. Then she heard Andromeda's voice coming from the clothing hut.

"I know that, Andy, but the tribe is low in numbers as it is. Making a mistake like this could cost us our lives, not to mention the entire future of the Amazon nation."

"Oh no." Zoe said, stopping in the middle of her tracks to move closer to the hut.

"I know, hon, but it's not like you can just go against what the queen says. She'll have you brought up on charges of treason. That's punishable by death." Andy argued.

"Not if we all stand up to her!" Andromeda countered.

"Are you crazy! We're about to go into battle, you can't be thinking like that. Spreading dissension amongst the ranks will get us all killed not matter what."

"It's not like I'm planning a mutiny here Andy, I'm just saying that if enough people were to stand against her, we might have a chance at salvaging what's left of our puny ranks. I'm not the only one who thinks this way; I've heard a lot of chatter around the camp about it."

"Well I don't care what you've heard! We are a tribe that works on the will of the queen and once we start questioning that will you might as well kiss the Amazons goodbye anyway. There's more than one way to destroy this tribe."

Andromeda growled. "By the gods, why do you have to be so damn straight laced?"

Andy sighed, then moved closer to her partner.

"Look, I'm sorry; I'm not trying to fight you on this. I do see your point; I just think that it's a little late to change anything. Let's just go out there and see how this all pans out. Queen Varia wants this nation to succeed just as much as you do, let's just hope she does the right thing."

Zoe moved away from the tent and stomped her tobacco into the ground. She needed to find the rest of her friends fast so she headed back her hut. Once she'd opened the door all she saw were a few empty wineskins and one very drunk foreigner.

"Zoe! I'm so happy to see you!" Rada said, before embracing the Amazon in a warm greeting. "You make some of the most wonderful wine."

"Oh good Gods!" Zoe groaned as she pushed the girl off of her. "Rada, have you seen Meg? Has she come back to the hut yet?"

"Oh Meg, yes, she came back here a little while ago to get her weapons. She's a really sweet girl." She slurred.

"Great, that means she's probably already at the rally." Zoe growled before turning to leave. "I'm gonna kill her."

"Well that's not very nice." Rada said, then shrugged before turning to grab a few more wine skins and heading to the jail to talk to Arsen.

As she stumbled over she noticed all of the Amazons heading in the same direction. Everyone except the guards at the prison.

"I'd like to go in the jail again please." She said with a smile.

Both guards looked at her as if she was crazy.

"Here I brought this for you." The Slav said, handing over one of her wineskins.

The guards then looked at each other, then shrugged as one of them accepted the wine and opened the door for Rada to enter.

"Well if it isn't my favorite new foreign friend!" Arsen said. "What'd you do to get back in here?"

"I just asked." Rada said, dropping down on the bench beside him and handing him a wineskin. "The Amazons are kind of boring. I'd rather hang out with you."

Arsen chuckled and took a swig from the skin.

"You know you might have the right idea." He said. "If all the gossip I've been hearing manages to amount to anything those Amazons have gone bat shit crazy. This may be the safest place to be once all hell breaks loose."

"Well there you go. We'll just wait for them all to kill each other, then we'll find a way to break out of this shit hole."

"I like the way you think." He said, as they brought their booze together for a toast.

Zoe made her way through the crowd and found Meg, Rah and Anthony all standing together. She could barely control her anger enough to keep her voice down.

"What in Hades have you guys been saying around the camp? I specifically told you not to talk about your disagreements with Varia! You could have gotten caught!"

"Well we certainly will if you don't keep your voice down!" Meg chastised her. "You need to relax. It's not like we talked to a lot of people about it."

"Oh really, then why did I hear Andy and Andromeda arguing about it?" She asked.

"I don't know, I didn't talk to them." Meg answered.

"Me neither." Anthony said.

Then they all looked to Rah who put her hands up defensively.

"Don't look at me; I only talked to two people about it." She answered.

"Exactly!" Zoe said. "You all have lived in this village long enough to know that lesbians do not keep things to themselves. So you tell two friends something, then they tell two friends and they tell two friends and pretty soon the whole Gods be damned village knows about it and it's bound to get around to somebody who will tell the Queen!"

"Well I doubt she plans on beheading any of us right now, she's about to start talking. Just calm down and try to act normal." Anthony said.

As Varia stepped up to the platform she looked around and waited for everyone to be quiet. The talking died down to whispers and the whispers soon made way to silence.

"Amazons, the very fate of our nation faces a great threat." She started. "Just outside our gates lies a nest of dangerous monsters that will snuff out each and every life within this village. We must fight to protect our homeland at all costs, but more importantly, we must fight to avenge the sisters that fell to these monsters' grasp. We cannot hold any false hopes of some ridiculous alliance conjured up by a traitorous outsider. I know some of you grew to like Sarah, but she has sided with our enemy and therefore must be destroyed."

"I sure hope Sarah knows what she's doing." Rada said as she and Arsen watched the speech from the barred window. "That Amazon sounds pissed."

"They always sound that way." Arsen replied. "Has something do with a bunch of women living together and fucking each other. Without a man to knock some sense into them they tend to go a little off the deep end. At least they're not all cycling together right now."

"How do you know that?" Rada inquired.

"Let's just say the chick that fucked up my back came by for a little visit while you were gone and fucked up my back again in a slightly different way."

It took a few seconds for Rada to catch on to what Arsen was saying, but she laughed once she got it.

"Nice!" She said before punching him lightly on the shoulder and returning to her previous listening position.

"Right now we must fight to ensure the survival of a strong Amazon nation. One that does not back down from the hard fight. Tonight we raise our swords together in defiance of those who would dare do us harm." The Queen raised her sword and spoke the words of Gabrielle. "To a strong Amazon nation!"

Her words were met with mimicking actions and phrases and she then ordered them all to formation.

"You did well, my queen." Eve whispered in her ear as she adjusted her battle gear. "Let's go."

They then proceeded to walk through the ranks toward their future.

"I think you're friend may have bitten off more than she can chew on this one." Arsen said.

As Rada stared at the retreating forms she sighed.

"She'll make it." She took another drink. "She has to."

To be continued…


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 – The Xena Effect

The tall warrior limped off the boat and immediately scanned the area for a patch of blond hair. It took her a while due to the lack of light reflecting off of the setting sun, but finally she spotted her mate coming toward her with two horses. A smile reached her lips when she saw the dark eyes of her noble steed.

"You know, with all the villages we've saved you'd think they'd get on some kind of discount network for valiant heroes." Gabrielle complained.

"Well we did leave them there a bit longer than expected." Xena reasoned as she stroked Argo II's nose.

"I'm not even going to comment on whose fault that was." Gabrielle said with a wink to ensure Xena knew she was kidding. "Now we've barely got enough dinars for an inn. Thank the gods I made some extra on the boat ride."

"Thank the gods horny sailors will pay just to look at you while you tell your stories." The warrior smirked as they walked through the crowd and toward the inn.

"Hey, a dinar's a dinar. And, forgive me if I'm wrong, but I don't remember you doing anything to help out our purses." She said sarcastically.

"Hey, I'm an injured woman here. I can't be expected to flip around like a monkey from bow to stern for a few gold pieces." Xena joked.

Gabrielle giggled. "You're certainly in a good mood."

Xena took in a deep breath and released it. "I think I'm just glad to be back on Greek soil. You know, I really believe things are going to be better from now on, Gabrielle. I'm looking forward to being out of the action and spending some quality time with you."

Gabrielle smiled and squeezed Xena's arm. "Me too, Xena. As much as you really did need the extra time in Chin for Liu to heal your leg, I'm glad it didn't take too long. I don't know how much longer I could have spent in that war zone before going crazy."

The warrior put an arm around Gabrielle's shoulders and squeezed gently. "You're not the only one, my bard. Now let's get some dinner and bed down for the night. If we travel at a good pace and leave early we might make it to the camp just after breakfast. The Amazons should be busy with their tasks and we can start to settle in to your hut. It'll be nice to get a little peace and quiet in the village for once."

"That's for sure." Gabrielle answered, and then they set off.

"There can be no peace between our people!"

Varia's voice was strong and unwavering as she spoke to the vampires. It was as if an invisible line had been drawn between them. She and Eve were at the head of the Amazons while Sarah and Khepri represented the vampires.

"God, I hate being right." Sarah said under her breath.

"The vampires have killed our sisters, therefore they cannot be trusted. We cannot ally with a race of monsters that thirst for our very blood."

"And I'm guessing you're not gonna be swayed on that line of thinking." Sarah observed.

"Absolutely not." Varia growled.

"Of course." She looked to the messenger. "Eve, do you have anything to say about this?"

Eve's answer was the only thing that was truly up in the air for Sarah. She wasn't sure which course of action would surprise her more: the Messenger demanding the royal challenge, or saying nothing and silently declaring war.

"Queen Varia, I demand the royal challenge." She said, her eyes never leaving Sarah's.

A gasp erupted from the Amazons and Sarah felt a shiver run down her spine. Something didn't seem right and she figured out what that something was when Varia smiled viciously at her and answered.

"Accepted." Her eyes remaining on Sarah's as well. "Name your weapon or name your champion."

"I call upon Sarah to champion my challenge."

"And I choose staffs for the weapons." The queen said.

The time traveler's hands started to shake as her eyes went back and forth between Varia and Eve.

_She's told her everything she needs to know to beat me. She has to know I'm immortal otherwise she'd use a sword. _Sarah thought. _I'm gonna need a fucking miracle to get out of this one._

As she turned back to look at Khepri she saw the worry in her eyes.

"You guys are gonna have to back up and give us room to fight." Sarah said, trying to keep her voice level.

"Something's gone wrong, hasn't it?" The vampire asked.

She was met with the most self assured look the girl could muster, and a quick response.

"Just remember your promises." Sarah said as she turned back to face Varia.

Andy tossed her a staff and she nodded her head in appreciation. After twirling it a few times to get used to the weight, she looked to Eve. The Messenger's eyes seemed unwavering in their resolve and it struck Sarah to the core. She pulled her gaze away from Eve and focused on Varia who was twirling her staff like it was simply another extension of her body. She stopped briefly to address her opponent.

"I'd say good luck to you, but I think we both know that even that wouldn't be enough for you to come out on top here."

"Oh I don't need luck. I've got Xena's blood running through my veins and there's something in it that always helps us to save the day. I like to call it the Xena effect." Sarah said as arrogantly as she could.

Varia surprised her by moving in quickly and knocking her feet out from under her before laughing manically. Sarah scrambled back to her feet and tried to calm her nerves.

"I don't think that blood of yours is going to do anything but spill on the ground tonight."

Sarah took a deep breath and sighed.

_You're probably right._ She thought to herself.

And then the fight began.

"She must be drunk." Zoe said as she watched Sarah take the first of many blows from the queen.

"I think crazy is a better description of what's wrong with her." Meg said before wincing as the fight unfolded before her eyes.

"Well whatever she is, she's not going to last long in that fight. One more blow to the face from Varia's 'stick of pain' and she'll probably be knocked out. Awwwww!" He exclaimed as Sarah took a powerful hit to the gut.

As she fell to the ground and clutched her stomach, Varia circled her like a vulture.

"You know what the saddest part of this whole thing is?" She said to the girl as she tried to catch her breath and get on her knees. "You really do think you're doing what's best for the Amazons. You barely even know them, Sarah, how could you possibly know what's best for them?"

The last sentence was nearly screamed as she raised her staff and brought it down hard in the direction of Sarah's head.

"Because I'm not as blind and stubborn as you." Sarah said as she blocked the blow and pushed herself up.

"Oooo. Maybe she's been holding back!" Rah said.

It was then that the group started to notice that they weren't rooting for their queen. Sadly their champion just took a blow to the back.

"And have you noticed that none of the people you care about so much are stepping up to defend you?" Varia asked as she continued her attack. "I'm pulverizing you out here and they haven't so much as said a word against me. Face it, Sarah, this is what they want. You're meddling in the name of people who don't need you to speak for them. That's what they have me for."

She slammed her staff down toward the ground, but Sarah rolled out of the way.

As Zoe's group heard Varia's words they all felt a sense of sadness wash over them. They hoped against hope that Sarah would somehow pull through.

But as the time traveler lay on her stomach and spat out a mouthful of blood she knew that it was all over. Though the fight had only lasted five minutes at the most, every inch of her body was in pain, and frankly she didn't understand how she was still conscious. Her eyes went in and out of focus as she looked up and saw Khepri preparing strike.

"No!" She yelled hoarsely and held up a hand.

Everyone looked up at the vampire and wondered if she would heed Sarah's command. When she backed off with a growl the time traveler lazily rolled over onto her back and propped herself up on her elbows. She knew the fight was over. Now all Varia had to do was finish it.

"You were brave to face me." Varia said, her anger toward Sara softened by the swift victory. "I respect that, though I may not respect you. That's why I'm going to give you the option to yield."

Sarah looked her over and thought about how easy it would be to say yes and save herself the pain of whatever Varia might have in mind next. She wasn't sure if it was her extremely stubborn nature, or the possible brain damage she might have suffered, but something simply wouldn't let her concede. So with a fear that she'd never known, she shook her head.

"You're gonna have to finish it."

Varia huffed and shook her head at the girl's ignorance.

"I am about to break your legs, Sarah." She leaned down and whispered. "You can't beat me in this fight, it's finished either way. Now stop being stupid and yield!"

Knowing what was about to happen to her did nothing to relieve her of her fear, but still she would not quit.

"Wow, this is really gonna hurt." She said to herself, and then addressed Varia. "Just get it over with."

As the queen shook her head and reared her staff back, Sarah closed her eyes and turned her head. But right after Varia let out her war cry, someone else cried out for her to stop. And before she knew it Eve was knelt on the ground in front of her.

"Wait, Varia, I was wrong." She said. "I can't let you do this to her."

"Eve it's too late for that now, get out of the way." Varia said through gritted teeth, embarrassed by her partner's spectacle.

"I can't, Varia. I'm so sorry, please; you have to let her go."

"It's not your choice anymore, Eve. Sarah has made her decision."

The prone time traveler looked between the two women arguing over her and started to wonder if there really was something about her genes that made her luckier than most people.

"Then I demand the challenge again. You'll have to beat two helpless victims now." Eve said.

Varia's eyes grew wide and Sarah finally spoke.

"Eve quit being crazy and get out of the way."

"She can't demand the challenge again anyway. Guards." Varia called out as she looked at Eve with a great deal of hurt showing through in her gaze.

Two Amazons grabbed a struggling Eve and pulled her away from the queen. Varia looked down at Sarah and they both resumed their previous positions. But another voice broke through the air before Varia could bring down her staff.

"I demand the challenge!"

Varia paused then turned to see who had just spoken. Every other head in the group followed her gaze until it rested on Rah.

She slowly lowered her hand as she noticed all the eyes on her. Looking down on the ground she felt the need to dignify her demand.

"Sarah was one of the first people to come looking for me when I went out into the woods by myself. I don't think she'd do anything to hurt the Amazons, and I don't want to see her get hurt."

They continued to look at her as if she'd grown a third eye.

Varia stepped toward the young Amazon.

"Rah, you know that if you lose the fight, your choices will be banishment or death." She warned.

Rah still couldn't look up. "I know, but she also took the blame for me when we all went out of the gates. And in my entire life only one other person has ever stuck up for me before."

The queen shook her head and threw her hands up in frustration. "Fine, then. Get out here."

As Rah made her way through the crowd Zoe and Meg whispered their protests, but she didn't listen. Before she got to the front of the group, Anthony's voice was could be heard.

"Wait! I demand the challenge too."

All eyes now went to him as he made his way to Rah's side and they both walked to face Varia.

"What is this?" Varia asked as Sarah wondered the same thing. "Don't think I won't defeat you both!" She warned angrily.

"Oh fuck it." Meg said, before moving forward as well. "I demand the challenge too."

"No you don't." Zoe growled and grabbed her arm.

"Yes I do." Meg answered and pulled the limb away as she trudged on.

Before Meg could even join Rah and Anthony, Andromeda spoke out with her demand and was followed by Andy. And with them more followed until finally even Zoe put her palm to her face and stepped forward as well.

"It's like fucking Spartacus." Sarah said to herself and chuckled.

Soon over half of the Amazons had issued the challenge and more were straggling along.

"I can't believe it. She won." Eve said, referring to Sarah.

Varia looked on at the throng of Amazons that stood in direct opposition to her and clenched her teeth. How could this possibly have happened? She turned back to Sarah, who was still lying on the ground, and trudged toward her. Once she was directly above her she raised her staff with both hands, and after the crowd of Amazons gasped behind her, she slammed it on the ground just below Sarah's feet.

"You must be right about that Xena effect, because there is no other way you could have beaten me." The queen said as she looked down at the girl and offered her hand. "I yield to you."

Sarah swallowed hard and tried to take in the enormity of the situation as she reached for Varia's hand.

"And now that Eve's in charge I'm pretty sure, at this point, you won't have to force her into leading the Amazon's into battle." The queen said as she pulled the girl to her feet.

She then started to walk away and Khepri moved forward to help keep Sarah upright.

"I don't think Eve has the option to lead the Amazons and the vampires against the slavers, what with them being human and all. I think she'd rather just have you do it." Sarah said, causing Varia to stop. "If you want to."

"You don't seem to understand, Sarah. I've lost the faith of my people. They can't follow me into battle when they don't trust me to lead them."

"Just because you disagree with someone doesn't mean you lose faith in them as well." Sarah said, as she glanced quickly at Eve. "Friendship and love don't work like that, trust me."

"How many of you Amazons will follow your queen into battle against the slavers?" She asked.

Every single Amazon raised their sword and yelled out their allegiance, but Varia's eyes still clung to the ground. Her pride was bruised and her anger had turned to defeat. Sarah noticed this and hobbled over to her.

"Look, I've had a really rough couple of days and I'm sure yours hasn't been all rainbows and puppy dogs either." She whispered into the queen's ear as she steadied herself on her shoulder. "Let's just make things easy for both of us and have you lead your people. They've believed in you all along, Varia. Prove them right by doing this."

The queen looked from her subjects, to Sarah and then to Khepri.

"Is this true, vampire?" Varia asked. "Are you ready to fight under my command?"

Sarah looked expectantly towards Khepri as the dark haired vampire princess stepped forward. With swift movements she drew her sword and pointed it at the queen.

Sarah's mouth dropped and her hair stood on end.

_No fucking way. _She thought as she fell to ground when Varia pushed her out of harm's way.

Every Amazon tensed and prepared for battle. With a grin, Khepri knelt down and shoved her sword in the ground.

"As long as Sarah requests it, you have my sword." The vampire said before her minions mimicked her position.

The Amazons all let out a simultaneous sigh of relief once the princess spoke. When she stood back up, she offered her arm to the queen.

"Shall we take care of your slaver problem?" Khepri asked.

Varia took the offered appendage. "We shall."

Sarah simply laid her head back in relief. "Oh thank God."

"Amazons!" The Queen said as she addressed her people. "The vampires are now our allies. They fight by our sides tonight and protect our land hereafter."

The Amazons raised their weapons and their voices in allegiance.

"Now we take on the slavers that threaten our people." The Queen paused before calling on her subjects. "Rah and Anthony, bring me the kidnapper. Eve, escort Sarah to the healer's hut."

As soon as Eve was freed by the guards she moved to Sarah's side.

"Can you make it back to camp if I help you walk?" She asked.

"Are you kidding?" Sarah said as the Messenger helped her sit up. "After pulling all of this shit off, I could walk on air."

She winced and clutched at her side before looking into Eve's sad eyes.

"I can't even begin to tell you how sorry…" She started, but Sarah cut her off.

"We'll have plenty of time in the healer's hut to discuss what's going on with us. Right now, you may want to try to talk to Varia."

"You're right." Eve said with a half-smile and a nod. "I'll be right back."

The Messenger timidly approached the queen. Varia was deep in conversation with Khepri who alternated between looking at her, and allowing her gaze to check on Sarah. It was she who first noticed Eve's approach.

"I think someone wants to talk to you."

Varia turned to regard Eve, then turned back to Khepri.

"Will, you excuse me for a moment."

"Certainly." Khepri answered as she took the opportunity to get a closer look at the time traveler.

Varia could see the trepidation in Eve's face and though part of her relished it, another part of her felt sorry for the young Messenger. They stared at each other for a few seconds, but Eve finally broke the silence.

"I know you must think I'm this huge traitor, Varia, but I just couldn't let your hurt her like that. I thought I could before, but when reality struck, I just couldn't let it happen. I understand if you're angry with me. I embarrassed you in front of your people." She searched Varia's face for any sign of forgiveness, but only found a tense stare. "I can leave as soon as Sarah is ready to travel, if that's what you want."

"Most people who betray the queen don't have that option, Eve." Varia said soberly.

The Messenger's heart nearly stopped and her eyes began to water before she tore them away from the queen's penetrating gaze.

"I'll accept whatever must be done to make restitution for…" Eve started, but was cut off.

"But I found out a long time ago that you aren't like most people, Eve." The queen's gaze was still sharp, but it had softened a bit. "We'll discuss this when I return."

Eve nodded and kept her eyes on the ground as she moved back to Sarah.

"How'd it go?" Sarah asked as she threw her arm around Eve's shoulder and limped back to the village.

"About as well as it could have for someone as proud as Varia to forgive someone who completely humiliated her in front of her subjects."

"Do we need to make a break for it?" Sarah asked, only half joking.

"No. She said she wasn't going to kill me or banish me." Eve said, and then thought for a moment. "Which, if you think about it, is a lot better than what happened the last time I pissed her off."

"This is very true." Sarah agreed as they made their way through the Amazon ranks and towards the village gates.

"Did you know the Amazons would defy Varia before you challenged her to kick your ass?" Eve asked.

Sarah chuckled at Eve's phrasing, then answered. "I had no clue that would happen. But it was probably one of the coolest moments of my life."

But as she looked over at her Amazonian friends a stab of guilt pierced her to the core. She was ready to fight against these people if the situation arose, and here they were saving her life by committing a massive act of treason. The thoughts caused her to pause in her steps.

"What's wrong?" Eve asked.

"I should tell them." Sarah said, as Eve looked at her quizzically. "About what I was going to do if I didn't get my way. About how the person they saved is such a shitty human being that she could have gotten them all killed."

She started to step toward them but Eve placed a solid hand against her shoulder, preventing any further movement.

"Not a good idea, Sarah. Those Amazons are about to go into battle right now. The last thing they need on their minds is the thought that they might have risked their lives for nothing."

The time traveler thought it over for a few seconds and nodded.

"You're right. I should tell them when they get back."

Eve spoke as she continued leading them back to the village. "No, you're not going to tell them at all."

"That's not fair Eve, they deserve to know the truth."

"No, they deserve to go on the rest of their lives believing what they do right now. That they stood up to their queen to save their friend. Right now they all feel incredibly brave and proud of themselves. Do you really think it's fair to take that away and replace it with feeling stupid and used just so you can get this off your chest?"

Sarah was silent for a moment. She honestly didn't know what to do with what Eve had just pointed out. The Messenger saw her wrestling with the options in her head and spoke up once more.

"You didn't wrong them, Sarah. Whether you were thinking about it or not, things worked out so that their lives were never in danger. There's no need to let them think it could have been otherwise. The truth isn't worth telling when it only causes pain. Your punishment will be to live with what you know, and if I understand you in even the slightest amount, I know that's worse than anything those Amazons could say or do to you."

Their eyes truly connected for the first time since Sarah found out about Eve's betrayal and the Messenger saw just how tired and defeated the girl was. But she also saw understanding there. She could tell that the Sarah wanted to say something, but a familiar voice interrupted whatever was on her mind.

"Wow, somebody really put your ass through the meat grinder." Arsen said.

His hands were tied behind his back as Rah and Anthony escorted him to the group.

"You should see the other guy." Sarah rebuked.

"Varia doesn't have a scratch on her, does she?" He asked with an amused smile.

"Nope." Anthony answered for her.

Sarah smiled and looked at both of her friends.

"I can't thank you guys enough for what you did back there." She said. "I'll forever be in your debt."

Eve squeezed her softly, understanding just how much Sarah really meant that last statement.

"You did the same for me." Rah said. "Mine was just more impressive."

Sarah smiled at this and nodded in agreement.

"Take care of yourselves out there. The vampires are probably gonna want to see all the action, but don't let your guard down." She said.

"Hey, what about me?" Arsen asked. "I'm not sure if you noticed, but I'm all tied up and dependant on a bunch of women to keep me alive. Don't I get a 'good luck' or something?"

"Arsen, you seem like the kind of guy that always ends up ok somehow. I'm sure you'll be fine."

She patted him on the back and both groups continued on their way.

As Arsen led the Amazons to the slaver's compound he tried to slowly work his way out of his bonds.

_These hookers aren't even smart enough to realize that procreation is the secret to population, yet they can tie a knot better not than any sailor I've ever met._

"You know, ladies, I could probably be of a lot more help if you untied me and gave me a weapon." He said.

"Keep your mouth shut or I'll have them put the gag on you sooner rather than later." Varia warned.

"Are you planning on keeping him alive after we take the compound?" Khepri quietly asked the queen.

"I hadn't planned on it, but I really don't want to catch any more lip from your little girlfriend. She brokered his safety in exchange for his help." Varia spat.

"She is a handful, isn't she?" The vampire mused. "What if something were to happen to him in battle? That would be out of your control, now wouldn't it?"

Varia raised her eyebrow and a grin appeared at the corner of her mouth.

"Are you suggesting that you might be the one to do something about it?" She asked.

"The vampires only promised not to harm the Amazons, and last I checked he wasn't one of your numbers."

"Yeah, but I'm fairly certain that one of my best interrogators would step in to defend him should the need arise." She then looked at Khepri curiously. "Why do you care what happens to him anyway?"

"I'm just not a fan." The vampire answered.

"It's her, isn't it? I know he fought Sarah in the forest. Is that why you want him dead?"

Khepri answered her with a look; she could still visualize the knife sticking out of the girl's stomach.

"You know that girl is nothing but trouble, don't you? I mean, have you paid attention at all to what I've had to put up with since she came to the village?" Varia asked.

"I think that's why I like her. I honestly don't believe she's afraid of anything."

"Well that's easy when you're immortal."

"It's not as easy as you might think."

It was then that Arsen piped in.

"Uh, if you two fearless leaders are done gabbing you might want to note the fairly large task at hand."

They surveyed the massive camp the slavers had set up and Varia started to get a little nervous.

"Ready for a fight?" Varia asked.

"Hmm, ready for dinner." Khepri answered.

And with that they dashed into the fray.

"So how do you think they're doing?" Gabrielle asked ask she gently scrubbed Xena's back.

"I can only imagine." Xena said with a chuckle. "Sarah can drive _me_ crazy; Varia must really have her hands full right now."

"Maybe they're getting along ok. She spent some quality time with Eve on the boat over here, maybe she rubbed off on her."

"Pfft. I'm more worried that she's rubbed off on Eve. Could you imagine how much trouble those two could get into if they were on the same page?" The warrior suggested.

"Well I don't know about them, but I know I sure could do with getting into a little trouble right now." Gabrielle said as her soapy hand wandered to Xena's chest.

She softly caressed her breast before giving the nipple a mischievous squeeze. Xena moaned into the touch, but slowly turned to face the bard.

"About that." She started, not having a clue how to say what she wanted. Her silence did not go unnoticed by the bard.

"Did I say something wrong?" She asked, worried.

The warrior automatically chastised herself for her cowardly inability to say what was on her mind. She softly stroked the bard's face and gave her a reassuring smile.

"You did nothing wrong, love. It's just that…" She paused again to swallow her pride, but continued. "…Gabrielle I know this is going to sound stupid, but I'm a little…nervous. With my leg the way it is, there are certain things in life that I just can't do anymore and sadly, that affects our bedroom as well. I'm scared that I won't be able to…" _Just say it, warrior. _"… to please you as much as I did before."

Gabrielle's face was aghast at first, but soon her open mouth turned into a smile that she was trying to suppress.

"Well I certainly didn't expect you to be happy about it." Xena said, somewhat hurt.

"Oh, Xena no. I'm not happy that you're injured, it's just that…" Now it was the Bard's turn to clam up. "… it's just that throughout our entire relationship I've been the one who felt insecure about what I had to offer you in that area of our life together. You always had so much more experience than I did."

"Hey, I didn't have _that _much more!" Xena defended herself and the bard quirked an eyebrow to correct her. "Ok, so maybe I had a bit more than you to draw from."

"What I'm trying to say is that I love you no matter what you can or cannot do in the bedroom and the fact that you are worried about it, makes me love you even more."

She moved in to kiss her passionately. As their tongues dueled and hands started to roam something crossed the warrior's mind. She pulled away to address Gabrielle.

"Are you saying that you're taking pleasure in my insecurity?" She joked.

"Absolutely." Gabrielle said as she placed another kiss on Xena's mouth. "Now let's get you in that bed so I try to impress upon you just how much pleasure I'm receiving."

"You know, Gabrielle, I'm not always as tough a warrior as I seem." She said with a coy grin. "I have a lot of insecurities I can share with you. In fact, it may take all night before I get through them all."

Gabrielle stood and let the lukewarm water cascade down her perfect figure while Xena watched with rapture.

"I guess we'd better get started then." She said, offering her hand to the warrior.

It was going to be a long night of opening up, for the both of them.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Sarah exclaimed as Eve checked her ribs.

"I know it hurts, but I have to make sure they're not broken." The healer explained.

"Well how are we doing so far?" Sarah asked through clenched teeth.

"The wounds seem to be fairly superficial. I'm not feeling any breaks. You're incredibly lucky."

"Heh, you really don't have to tell me that."

"You'll need to put some salve on the cuts and bruises, but other than that you should be fine with a few days rest. I do think you've pulled a few muscles, but all of the bones are still intact."

"I can help her with the salve." Eve said, taking the offered cream.

"Good, now if you don't mind you may want to head back to your own room. I may have need for all the beds in the hut tonight."

Both Sarah and Eve nodded as they walked out of the healer's hut.

"I guess no matter how far back in time you go, some things never change. The future is doomed to constantly produce doctors with horrible bedside manners." Sarah said as she hobbled toward the jail.

Eve chuckled at the remark, then questioned Sarah about the direction they were headed.

"Why are we going toward the jail, your quarters are toward the back of the camp?"

"I just figured I'd hang out with Rada until the Amazons come back to release her." Sarah answered flippantly as she continued to limp onward.

"But Sarah, you need to rest and I need to get this salve on you."

"Don't worry about it, it's not like it's going to kill me. I'll deal with it later."

Eve thought for a second then spoke again.

"You mean you'll deal with me later." She said, causing Sarah to stop in her tracks.

The time traveler cringed before she turned around to face the Messenger. Then with a sigh she finally spoke.

"I guess I'm kind of a coward when it comes to apologizing." Sarah said, embarrassment coloring her face.

"Why would you be embarrassed about it? If anyone needs to do the apologizing here it's me." Eve said.

"I'm not good with that either."

"Well you're just going to have to suffer a little bit then, Sarah, because I need to get this out."

She pulled the time traveler to a bench and opened up the salve, speaking as she applied it to Sarah's wounds.

"Can I at least start?" The time traveler asked as her eyes surveyed the ground.

"Fine."

"Look, I know I'm not the easiest person to get along with. I'm stubborn and proud and it's hard to get me to see things from a different perspective when I've already made up my mind. But that's not an excuse for what I did back there in the cave." She finally looked up to meet Eve's eyes. "We're friends, and that should have counted for a lot more than it did at the time. I should have cooled my temper and figured out a way to make this work instead of threatening to switch sides. And I know that it really doesn't matter now, but I did make Khepri promise to get you out safe if things went wrong. I know I'm a jerk a lot of the time, but wouldn't want anything bad to happen to you Eve."

"Are you done?" Eve asked with a small tear threatening to tip out of her eye.

"That depends, was the apology good enough? I'm usually too proud to make them."

The Messenger chuckled sadly but nodded her head before continuing to apply the salve. She took some time to collect herself before speaking.

"I know it was Varia that you were fighting out there, but I feel as though it was me who put every single one of these wounds on you. You may have planned to fight on a different side, but I fought dirty. I told her exactly what she needed to do to defeat you out there and now you're in pain because of me."

"And I'd be in a lot more if it weren't for you." Sarah interrupted. She could tell that Eve's heart was breaking with every wound she tended. "It took a lot of guts for you to step in like you did, especially against your lover."

"But I wouldn't have had to step in if it weren't for my own actions."

"No, it was my actions that put me there, Eve. You may have played a role in what happened, but we all choose our own paths."

"I told her to break your legs." Eve said, not shying away from Sarah's confused gaze as she hammered her point home. "You told Khepri to make sure I got out ok, and I told Varia to break your legs."

Sarah exhaled sharply and stood up. That stung, whether she'd already figured it out or not. There was something about hearing the words that just cut her to the bone. Running her hands through her hair she tried to figure out what to do with this information.

"This is why I hate this part." She said, her back still to Eve. "I thought you told me that there wasn't much point telling the truth if it only caused pain."

"I never said I followed my own advice."

Sarah didn't know what to say at that point. She didn't want to deal with this.

"I'm going to see Rada."

As she started toward the jail, Eve rose from her seat to follow.

"Alone." Sarah said without looking back.

Morning brought with it the return of the Amazons and the arrival of Xena and Gabrielle. Sun filtered through the small window of the holding cell and Sarah's eyes fluttered open as she took in her surroundings. There were a few empty flasks of wine strewn about and Rada was nestled on her shoulder sucking quietly on her thumb. She would have laughed at the scene, but as soon as her face contorted into a smile the soreness from last night's fight echoed throughout her nerve endings.

"Ow." She said softly as she brought her hand up to her face. As if that would help.

Upon moving the rest of her body she found the same results spread out over the bruises on her skin. Gently she shimmied out from under her Slavic friend and headed to the window to see what was going on. Amazons were starting to pour into the camp and all of them looked to be in good spirits. Shouts of 'victory' and 'to a strong Amazon nation' rang out over the huts and Sarah decided to ignore the aching of her body so as to ascertain information about last night's attack.

"Did we win?" Rada asked sleepily.

"It looks like it."

"Good, that' means we'll be drinking again soon. I need to fix this hangover."

Sarah giggled as she headed toward the door.

"I'm gonna go talk to the queen about letting you out. I'll be back soon."

"Try not to piss her off again." Rada said with a wink and a chuckle.

As Sarah emerged from the jail she could hear her name being called by several familiar voices.

"Sarah, you should have seen it!" Rah said quickly and enthusiastically. "The vampires were so strong and fast we barely had to do anything. They completely backed us up in the fight!"

"And then they ate a couple of bad guys." Zoe said with a cheeky grin and a thumbs up.

"Did you guys lose anyone? Is everyone ok?" The time traveler asked.

"All of the Amazons are fine. It was pretty much a slaughter on our part. The slavers were so afraid of the vampires that they were kind of running around like idiots, so we made quick work of them. Thanks to you." Anthony said with a slap to her back.

Sarah barely suppressed a yelp, but tried to keep a smile on her face.

"How are you feeling?" Meg asked.

"Oh, I'm great! Just a few cuts and bruises really, nothing major."

"That's amazing." Rah said. "She kicked your ass so hard."

"Yeah, well, I'm just a fast healer I guess." She answered as she surveyed the area for a place to sit down.

"Well that's good." Zoe said. "You're gonna need your strength because we're about to start up a celebration. Not only did we defeat the slavers, but Xena and Gabrielle just got into town."

"Seriously?" Sarah asked. She hadn't expected them for at least another week and she really didn't want them to know about everything that had transpired.

"Yeah, they're actually headed to the queen's hut to get the details." Anthony said.

Sarah bolted off before he'd even finished his sentence. She limped quickly in their direction and intercepted the warrior and bard before they reached Varia's hut.

"Hey!" She said, overenthusiastically hugging them both. "What are you guys doing here so soon?"

"Well we decided to leave as soon as we got the go ahead from Liu." Gabrielle explained before noticing Sarah's disheveled state. "What in Hades happened to you?"

"You know, fighting bad guys and all. I took on four at one time!" She explained as Eve started to walk up to the group.

"Four at one time, that's impressive. You must be getting better." Xena said as she painfully clapped Sarah on the shoulder.

"She is." Eve agreed before greeting each of her mother's with a hug. "But she didn't take on four men."

Eve had every intention of telling Xena and Gabrielle about everything that had happened, including her betrayal, but she was interrupted before she had the chance.

"Okay, okay, it was three bad guys. Way to steal a girl's thunder, Eve!" She said, hugging the Messenger with one arm.

"Just go with it." Sarah whispered quickly to the messenger.

"Three men is still pretty amazing considering how bad you were the last time we saw you." Gabrielle said.

"Yeah, well, Eve showed me a few moves on the boat. I probably owe a lot of it to her."

"Owe what to her?" Varia's voice piped into the conversation as she exited her hut.

"My refined fighting skills of course. I was just explaining to Xena and Gabrielle that I wouldn't have been able to take down those three guys if it weren't for Eve's training."

"What three guys?"

"You know, sweetie." Eve sidled up to her, preparing to go along with Sarah's plan. "The slavers she fought in the compound. The ones who gave her those bruises."

Varia surveyed the messenger's face quizzically, but finally received the message Eve was sending with her eyes.

"Oh, right." She said enthusiastically. "Yeah, she did a great job busting up those slavers."

"Why are they acting so strange?" Gabrielle whispered to Xena.

The warrior simply shrugged.

"Well, you must be ready to get settled in your hut." Varia suggested, trying to find a diversion. "And I need to address the Amazons about the battle, so why don't we all meet up during the festivities and we can tell you all about what's been going on around here."

"That sounds like a great idea. We can't wait to hear about it all." Xena said. "Though I must say I was a little worried about how well you all would get along. It's nice to see that you've worked together. I can relax now knowing that these two didn't cause any trouble."

"Us cause trouble?" Sarah asked. "Come on, you should have a little more faith than that."

"Right." The bard said suspiciously before they headed to their hut.

Sarah could feel Eve move behind her as she watched the warrior and bard's forms disappear into the crowd.

"You didn't have to lie to them for me, you know." The Messenger said softly to her back.

"I did it for both of us. The details of what happened in the last few days don't really matter because we're still at the same place we were when we entered the village."

"And where is that?"

Sarah finally turned around to address her face to face.

"We're friends, Eve. And friends love each other not just in spite of their shortcomings, but because of them. You accept me for my shit and I accept you for yours. That's what real friendship is all about."

Eve smiled and enveloped her in a tight hug. Sarah would have cried out in pain had she the lung capacity to do so. When they parted Varia informed her that there was a certain vampire waiting to speak with her outside the gates. The time traveler smiled and headed off to see Khepri.

"So do you really think that everything went as smoothly as they say it did?" Gabrielle asked Xena as they walked into their new home.

"Not a chance." The warrior replied. "But as long as their safe and sound, I really don't think I need to know everything that happened. Right now, I'm ready to settle in and relax."

"Are you sure you're feeling ok?" The bard asked before pretending to check the warrior for a fever.

"I'm perfect." She answered with a hug. "Welcome home, my bard."

"I've been home ever since I met you, Xena." Was the soft, sweet reply.

To be continued…


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10 – A Stone's Throw Away

"I know you want to talk this out, Eve, but I just don't have the time right now." Varia reasoned within the walls of her quarters.

"Why is it that, all of a sudden, no one has any time for me to apologize?" The Messenger said to herself more than anyone.

"Look, I'm not trying to punish you here, but I've got a million different things to do before I tackle you and me. A treaty has to be drawn up for the vampires, the celebration has to be approved and I've decided to make Sarah head negotiator for the bloodsuckers, so you're just going to have to wait."

Eve was crestfallen, but she accepted Varia's wishes. Then as she walked to the door she felt a stiff grip on her wrist right before she was spun around and pushed against the door. The shock of the whole situation startled her at first and she fought the queen's advances until a strong knee was drawn up between her legs and a husky voice started whispering in her ear.

"Don't get me wrong, Eve, I'm not happy about what happened out there in those woods but I'll be damned if Sarah is going to be the one to cause a problem between us. We have a lot to talk about and after we do talk…" She nipped at her ear and grabbed two handfuls of ass to grind harder against the Messenger. "I want to make sure we have plenty of time to make up. If that's ok with you."

Eve's breathing was frantic as Varia kissed her again without waiting for an answer. She writhed against the powerful thigh and buried her hands in the warrior's dark locks. When they finally pulled away from each other the queen looked deeply into the messenger's eyes and stroked her cheek.

"I'm still madly in love with you. That's all you need to walk out of here knowing." She explained, before opening the door.

Unbeknownst to both of them a blond haired bard had come to ask about towels for the bath when her task was thwarted by what she heard at the door. Gabrielle didn't mean to eavesdrop, but as soon as she'd heard there was an argument her maternal instincts kicked in and forced her to draw nearer to the door. It was what happened after that caused her to lean on it, being that both parties were whispering. However, falling through the entryway certainly hadn't been her plan seeing as how now she needed to do some smooth talking.

"Hi!" She beamed with a bright smile.

Both Eve and Varia looked completely mortified.

"I was just walking over here to ask about towels when… um…" She got back on her feet. "When I tripped and fell into your hut right as the door opened."

"Imagine the odds." Varia said with mock acceptance.

"Yeah, pretty small, right?" The bard answered.

"You need to find Meg." The queen said.

"Meg?" Gabrielle asked.

"For the towels." Eve explained in a leading tone.

"Right, the towels! I'll just go…" she stumbled while attempting to walk backward. "...see Meg… about the towels."

As Gabrielle made a much uncoordinated exit the two discovered lovers watched her go.

"You know she's going directly to tell your mother what she heard." Varia said.

"Yeah."

"Should I be worried?"

"No, I'll catch mom before she has the chance to do any permanent damage to your person."

"Good, because I'd wager even an injured Xena could still pack quite a punch."

"So the fight went well, huh?" Sarah asked Khepri who had been waiting to speak with her outside the gates of the village.

"Much better than yours." The vampire said as she raised a hand up to softly stroke Sarah's bruised face. "Are you in a lot of pain?"

"Only when I… well, move." Sarah said with a small smile.

They both simply stood there for a few seconds, neither knowing what to say. Sarah never liked uncomfortable pauses; they made her feel like she was going to come out of her skin. So she said the first thing that came to her mind.

"This is kind of awkward, isn't it?"

"Yes, somewhat."

"That's strange considering all we've been through in the past couple of days. You've plotted to kill me and all my friends; I've plotted to kill you and all your friends. You kidnapped me, I plunged a stake through your heart."

"Yeah, you'd think holding a simple conversation wouldn't be all that difficult."

Again they were silent.

"So why is it?" Sarah asked after a few seconds.

Khepri regarded her curiously.

"Maybe we should start over." She offered up her hand. "Hi, my name is Khepri and I'm a vampire princess who means you no harm."

Sarah smirked, but accepted the gesture. "And I'm Sarah; an immortal who travels the world looking for trouble."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Sarah."

"Likewise."

"I know you must be busy right now with everything that's going on in camp, but do you think that we could possibly spend an evening together sometime this week?" Khepri asked hopefully.

"I think I'd like that." Sarah's grin turned into a smile. "How does tomorrow night sound?"

"It sounds perfect. I'll be waiting for you at the gates an hour before sunset."

With that, Khepri raised the hand she was holding to her lips before letting go and backing away. As Sarah looked down at her hand and stroked the place where Khepri's lips had been, she could only think one thing: _I am so screwed._

"She's what!?"

The warrior's voice boomed across the general area surrounding the hut she shared with Gabrielle. Eve nearly fell back from her position just outside the door.

"Xena! Keep your voice down. You don't have to let the entire village know about your tendency to overreact." The bard warned.

"Overreact?" She said in a voice much higher than her normal alto. "Our daughter is bedding the queen of the Greek Amazons: a woman who has tried to kill her on more than one occasion. I have a right to scream out in disapproval."

"First of all, I don't think she's just bedding her, I think they're in an actual relationship, and second of all this isn't just some hot headed Amazonian queen we're talking about here; it's Varia. Varia, whom we've come to call friend."

"Yeah, right after she threatened to kill our daughter and beat the crap out of you to get the chance." Xena reminded her.

"Xena, everyone has moved past that now. You've even moved past it."

"That was before I found out she was sticking it to my little girl." The warrior paced the room as furiously as she could.

"Eve used to shack up with Ares, I'm pretty sure she can handle Varia."

"Ugghhh. Don't remind me of that at a time like this, I want to be overprotective not nauseated."

The bard simply rolled her eyes and stopped the warrior in her tracks. "You knew this was going to happen one day while you were a part of her life, Xena. Can't you just be happy that it's happening in location where you will be able to closely monitor and butt in?"

For the first time the warrior's eyes finally met the bard's in agreement.

"You're right. With us living in the village I'll never be more than a few feet away."

"And you can be every bit the interfering mother that Cyrene was to you when you were pregnant."

"Yeah." Xena exhaled, a hopeful smile spreading across her face. "Just like mom."

"Now pull your daughter in here and give her a hug. I'm sure she's been listening in for quite a while now."

The door to the holding cell was opened and standing outside was a time traveler who was very pleased with herself. Rada and Arsen ambled out slowly and started to stretch in the beaming sunlight.

"So am I free to go, or are they about to act all female and take back their word?" Arsen asked.

"As long as you never kidnap another Amazon, you're free to go on with your life." Sarah said.

"Oh believe me; I'll never make that mistake again. I've learned my lesson about trying to get ahead by involving Amazons in any way. It just doesn't work."

"So I guess you're gonna head home now?"

"Yep, now I get to see if my farm was looted while I was hanging out in the jail with Rada."

"Well they're throwing some kind of party tonight, I'm sure they'd let you attend if you asked nicely."

"Right. Because I so enjoy hanging out with these crazy hookers." He laughed before holding out his hand. "Thanks for getting me out of jail. Maybe I'll see you around sometime."

Sarah nodded her head and took the offered appendage.

"Rada." He called, turning to her. "You may be the coolest female I've ever met. Stay away from Sarah if you want to stay out of trouble."

"Life's too boring without trouble." Rada countered as she hugged him goodbye.

They watched him as he headed for the gates, but were surprised when he was stopped by Ava. Sarah was half worried that Varia had changed her mind about freeing him, but the conversation that followed quickly quelled her fears.

"So, you coming to the party tonight?" She asked as she wrapped an arm around his waist and allowed their lower bodies to brush up against each other.

"Are you gonna be there?" He asked.

"Considering I live here, probably so." She joked.

"I might make an appearance." He said calmly.

She simply looked at him as if she knew the game he was playing all too well. Then after a few seconds of stare down, she pulled away and sauntered off with a sexy swagger. Arsen, of course, watched her entire exodus before swearing under his breath and once again heading toward the village gates.

"So we'll see you tonight then, Arsen?" Sarah yelled.

"Yep." He answered without even turning back.

The two women chuckled as Sarah put an arm around Rada.

"Let's go hit the bath house. I am in desperate need of a scrub down and you need to tell me everything about your trip back home to see your parents."

Rada simply nodded.

As Khepri entered the cave she realized that the last thing she wanted to do was sleep, though it was broad daylight outside. So instead of heading to her quarters she turned right and headed toward Asteri's room. He was still stuck to the wall when she entered, and not happy about it by the look on his face.

"You are a cruel, unfeeling bitch. How dare you leave me hanging here!" He screamed.

"Do you want me to leave you there for a while longer, or are you going to stop your whining?" She asked.

He looked as if he was going to go off again, but he bit his tongue and she proceeded to pull the daggers out of his hands. After cleaning them off with a handkerchief she stowed them back in the sheaths on her boots.

"So how was it, fighting alongside your own food, Khepri? Did you enjoy it?" He asked with insolence.

"It was fine. My belly is completely full of fresh slaver blood right now. I would have brought one back for you but you've been so obsessed with destroying Amazon lately that I didn't think you'd appreciate the gesture. Guess you'll just have to settle for whatever's left in the decanter, huh?"

"You really are incredibly evil. Much more than you rightfully should be." He complained, pouring a meager sample of blood into his glass. "So what now, we bow down to those harlots and go hungry?"

"No, we patrol their lands and eat their enemies. Amazons never made up a substantial portion of our diet and you know that. You just hate the fact that what we do may benefit them."

"It's insulting for a superior creature to bow down to an inferior one."

"Well as far as I've seen you haven't had to do any bowing, so why don't you quit complaining about it."

He simply rolled his eyes at her comment.

"Now before I leave you to rot in your frustration I have one more thing to tell you. Tomorrow night I plan on spending some time with Sarah and I may bring her back here depending on how things go. If, for some reason, you see her you will be kind and respectful."

He snorted. "Sarah… the little girl who started all of our problems. And you expect me to be nice to her?"

"I don't expect it, I demand it. You'll treat her with respect. That is, unless you'd like to get further acquainted with the wall." She threatened before turning to go.

"How did this happen?" He asked himself as he observed the ruby contents of his goblet. "How did one young girl gain power over an entire vampire clan?"

With a sigh he finished the glass and decided to hunt for some fresh sustenance.

The hot springs that fed the Amazon bath house were heaven to Sarah. She moaned as she stepped in to the steamy tub and allowed it to sooth away all of the aches of the past few days. Rada plopped down beside her and immediately dunked her dark head before resurfacing and leaning back.

"You know, I'd probably go crazy from being around these Amazons, but I'd sure enjoy the perks of living in this place." Sarah said, closing her eyes and resting her head back against the stone tub.

"No kidding." Rada chuckled.

"So how'd the visit with the folks go? You sure didn't stay very long."

After a few seconds of silence she opened her eyes and regarded her friend.

"Rada?"

The Slav ran her hands through her wet hair and pretended to clean underneath her nails as she debated in her head whether or not to share her experience with Sarah. The time traveler must have picked up on her reluctance because she didn't push, opting instead to let Rada have as much time as she needed. It only took one look into supportive blue eyes and her internal struggle was quelled. Though they barely knew each other, Sarah was the closest thing she had to a real friend.

"They told me to leave and never come back." She said, not able to hold her gaze.

Sarah couldn't control the sharp intake of breath that followed the sad, solitary sentence. She couldn't imagine the pain that must have caused her friend. Rada had been stolen from her family, abused by an evil prince, and then rejected by the only love she'd ever known. She searched her brain for the right words to say, but they never came. There really wasn't anything that could have been said about the situation that wasn't already evident. Instead she simply put her hand on Rada's shoulder and hoped that the small gesture conveyed the depths of her sympathy. She expected her friend to be crying, possibly breaking down, but she didn't. The girl simply stared down at the soapy water.

"They said that the prince was telling the truth about me. That they practically gave me to the Chinese because I was filthy and unnatural. Anyway, that's why I came to find you." She explained. "I thought that maybe I could just follow you around for a while, until I find somewhere that I belong."

Her eyes finally met Sarah's and she could tell that it was incredibly hard for her to ask this.

"I was hoping you'd say that. If I had to deal with Eve by myself for much longer I might have gone insane." She gave her friend a soft punch to the shoulder. "Plus you know that I can't fight for shit. I'm going to need all the help I can get once we hit the road again. I probably wouldn't have been able to do it without you."

"Tell me about it! I'm impressed that you've survived this long." Rada joked back.

That was the end of all serious talk about the situation. Both women eased into comfortable conversation about the vampires, the Amazons, and the party that would commence that night. But the underlying message underneath all of the idle chatter was nothing more than the language of friendship. Sarah and Rada were incredibly alike in the fact that they both were starting fresh in the world, and they knew how lucky they were to do that with someone they could count on to catch them when they fell.

"Amazons! Tonight is truly a night of celebration." Varia said as she raised her glass to kick off the ceremony. "We celebrate the return of Queen Gabrielle and Xena the Warrior Princess."

Gabrielle nodded her head to Varia and Xena tried to muster up an accepting smile. Pomp and circumstance were not her strong suit.

"Gabrielle and Xena have planned to take up permanent residence within our tribe and we welcome them graciously." Varia bowed, and soon the rest of the tribe followed.

Upon arising she continued the speech.

"We celebrate our victory against the slavers!"

This statement was met with a raucous bout of cheers from the crowd. The queen smiled as she waited for her subjects to calm down.

"And we celebrate an alliance with the vampires. Not only did they fight by our side in battle, they also have agreed to patrol our borders for the foreseeable future." The crowd cheered again, and the queen waited to speak. "But we must remember that it would not have been possible, were it not for the intervention of an outsider."

Rada clapped Sarah on the back, causing her to spill some of her wine.

"Hey, that's you!" She said.

"This outsider braved both the vampires and the Amazonian Queen in order to create this alliance, having no reason to help us at all. That is why I am honoring her with the official title of Head Negotiator to the Vampires." Varia said before holding out a scroll.

"Huh?" Sarah grunted.

"I think you're supposed to go up there." Rada giggled.

Everyone was looking at the time traveler and waiting for her to move toward the queen. With wide eyes and a confused grin she handed her wine to Rada and made her way up to the platform to address Varia.

"You know, I'm pretty sure we didn't discuss making this position a full time gig." She whispered before bowing and accepting the proclamation.

"Well there's going to be rather large need for communication in the coming weeks and since you seem so fond of them, I decided that keeping you around a bit longer would be beneficial to the tribe." She offered her hand and Sarah accepted.

"But I'm not an Amazon." Sarah said through a half-assed smile as she and the queen faced the crowd.

"That's not what the scroll you just accepted says." Varia shot back, regarding Sarah with a mischievous grin. "Now go back to your seat, you've hogged enough of the attention.

As Sarah walked back to her place between Rada and Eve, Varia made her closing statement and cheers broke out as the partying was officially allowed to commence. The wine flowed freely and half naked women danced enthusiastically around a fire. Xena and Gabrielle laughed as they watched Eve's futile attempt at teaching Sarah to dance, then the warrior's eyes scanned the common area and noticed Varia enjoying the scene as well.

"I'll be right back." The warrior said, as she made her way over to the tall, dark Amazon.

Varia's giggles stopped abruptly as she caught a glimpse of Xena's approach. The warrior sidled up to her and crossed her arms as if she were simply joining in on the merriment. But both women knew what the purpose of this meeting was to be about.

"So how long have you been in love with her?" The warrior asked, not bothering yet to look the queen in the eye.

Varia's head bowed a bit and her eyes focused on the ground.

"Quite a while now. I think it started after her last visit to the camp."

Xena nodded. "And you think that with everything that's happened, you two have a shot?"

Varia looked up at the warrior, her quick temper getting the better of her need to keep a cool head.

"Nobody truly knows whether they have a shot at making a relationship work, Xena. When people love each other it's nearly impossible not to cause pain. And if I've read Gabrielle's scrolls correctly, I'd wager you two knew a little something about that."

As soon as the last sentence left her mouth she knew it should have never formed on her tongue. Xena's eyes bore into Varia's and the warrior's jaw tightened with anger. The stare was so formidable, Varia took a step back in an attempt to lessen the blow.

"That was quite possibly the dumbest thing I could have said at this moment."

"You got that right." Xena said as she moved closer, an evil smirk growing on her face.

"Xena, I'm sorry. I just… It's just that I love your daughter and all I want is a chance to show her how much."

"And I just want to impart on you how important it is that loving her is all you ever do. Because the second, I get wind of anything to the contrary I will do everything in my power to make your life a living hell. And Varia… I have many skills."

Across the way, Sarah noticed the posturing going on between Xena and Varia. She quickly stopped the abominable movements Eve was trying to help her improve on to warn the Messenger of the impending violence.

"Uh, Eve, I think your mom's totally about to deck your girlfriend."

"What?" The messenger asked before turning around to see a very pissed off warrior princess looking at Varia as if she were her prey.

"Oh shit!" Eve said as she ran over to try and diffuse the situation while Sarah decided it might be best to involve the bard in the dispute.

"You may want to make sure your warrior princess doesn't take out the Amazon queen." Sarah said as she approached Gabrielle.

The bard looked over to where Sarah was pointing and simply shook her head.

"Nah, Varia will be fine; Xena's just trying to scare her. And even if she's not, Eve's right there to do the whole 'non-violence' thing."

"Heh." Sarah chuckled as she moved next to Gabrielle and leaned against the wall with her.

"You wanna fill me in on what's really been going on around here?" The bard asked.

"It's not all that interesting." Sarah said as she took a sip of her drink.

"The cuts and bruises on your face say differently. Do you really think we believe you got those in a fight with a group of slavers when you had Amazons and mystical creatures backing your play?"

Sarah grinned and looked at the ground for a few seconds before bringing her eyes back up to meet Gabrielle's.

"Everything turned out ok in the end. Can't we just leave it at that?"

"Sure."

They both stared on silently for a few seconds at the scene unfolding with Xena, Varia and Eve. Mother and daughter were having it out while Varia's head followed the conversation as if it were a tennis match.

"If Xena knows what's good for her she'll avoid fighting Varia. I think you and I both know how much of a punch that Amazon can pack." The bard suggested.

"You ain't kidding." Sarah said, cringing after realizing she'd just taken the bait.

Gabrielle smirked victoriously, then continued to bleed her companion of information. "But I'll bet her blows didn't hurt half as much as the one Eve dealt when she betrayed you."

Sarah studied the bard's knowing eyes and wondered which one of her feather headed friends spilled the beans. She was starting to empathize with Varia's predicament.

"Betrayal can hurt so bad that it will make you do some pretty unthinkable things." The blonde continued. "Things like switching sides in a fight and threatening the well being of people you care about."

The time traveler swallowed hard, but did not defend herself.

"It's ironic that Xena is over there right now trying to scare Varia out of ever hurting Eve, when her time might be better spent impressing her threats upon you."

"I'm pretty sure you're about to take care of that for her." Sarah said, taking a drink.

The bard's eyes softened as she continued.

"Eve has a connection with you. It's almost as if you make her forget all the pain of her past because you neither condemn nor condone it. When she's around you she acts as immature and carefree because you require those qualities in a friend. And it's hard to make this call so soon in the relationship, but I'd be willing to wager that she'd leave the camp and Varia behind if you decided to go."

"Gabrielle, the only place I want to go is home and if I find a way to do that, I assure you, Eve won't be able to follow."

"I know your goal is to find the stone Sarah, but I think we both know that hope is pretty farfetched. You may be stuck here, and if you are you're going to cling to the people that are already a part of your life. All I'm asking is that you tread more carefully with Eve. I know she gets on your nerves and that sometimes her morals make you want to rip out your hair, but she's more sensitive than you probably know."

"Did it ever occur to you that treating her differently could sever the connection that we have? If I start handling her with kid gloves, then Eve doesn't get to be a part of the "immaturity" club. She's the same girl everyone else sees her as; the peacemaker trying to redeem a dark past."

She saw the wheels turning in Gabrielle's head and decided to press further with her point.

"As far as the events of the past few days go, we both made a lot of choices that could have ended in disaster, but we were there for each other when it counted. I promise you that even after I switched sides, I was looking out for her."

The bard searched her eyes.

"I believe you, Sarah. You just have to understand how much Eve means to Xena and me. We couldn't bare something happening to her."

Jealousy started to overtake Sarah in her defensive state as she looked into the features of a woman who'd once loved her as a daughter. She finished her drink in a few swallows and tossed the cup down on the ground.

"You wanna know why it was so easy to fall on the side of the vampire? Because as fucked up as the situation was, she needed _me_." The girl slapped her chest for emphasis. "Cared about what happened to _me_."

"Sarah I…" The blonde tried to interrupt but was cut off.

"I know that my decisions are mine alone and that I'm the only one to blame for my predicament, but I'm pretty much carrying that burden alone. I know how you feel about Eve because I had that kind of love once and now it may be as good as gone. I lost everything to save you, Xena, and your precious Eve and instead of receiving the love and acceptance I so pathetically need, I get reminded of exactly how little I mean to both of you."

"Sarah…"

"And I know that you two don't know me from Adam; I'm just trying to admit an embarrassing difficulty. One probably best understood by the subject of our conversation. So to end this tirade on a reassuring note, let me just say that I've got very few people on this earth that love me right now. I'm certainly not going to make a constant effort to hurt the one who probably loves me most. So when you go to bed tonight you can rest easy, because if there's one thing you can count on to protect its interests it's my own personal need, as a human being, to be loved."

The bard decided that speaking at this point was probably not the best idea. Instead she tried to convey her sympathy for Sarah's situation with her downtrodden expression.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get extremely intoxicated."

Gabrielle stood dumbfounded for a moment as she tried to figure out exactly how the conversation had deteriorated so quickly. After shaking her head in confusion she looked over to see how Xena was fairing; at this point Varia should be in for a decent pummeling. But to her surprise Xena had her arms around both Eve and Varia's shoulders as she squeezed them tightly and showered them with a bright smile, causing the bard to shake her head in confusion before moving to join them.

"The gods must be playing tricks on us again because Xena does NOT do sensitive chats better than I do." She grumbled to herself as she walked.

After a few hours the party was in full swing. Sarah drank greedily from her cup as she tried to focus on the many conversations that were going on around the circle she'd been invited to. It was only when Anthony started on with her that she succeeded in this task.

"I was going to mention this earlier, but you looked pretty hell bent on having a good time and I didn't want to ruin it with some mundane mission you're on: I think I may have found that stone you were looking for in the texts."

Sarah coughed into her mug and then into her fist as he continued.

"I wasn't able to really dig into the scrolls, but I did find one that referenced Xena dropping off a gem for safe keeping then leaving the camp. It only went on to say that it would probably be secured in a cave before I had to leave the research and come to the party."

"But it sounds like you're on the right track." Sarah said, hope filling her heart.

"Yeah, basically at this point I just have to read through the entries following and I should be able to see exactly where they put it. The only problem is that could take a while because they probably went back and forth considering what to do with it. Either way I should have an answer to you within the week."

"That's probably some of the best news I've heard in months."

"Why? Are you that desperate to leave this enchanting place?" He asked with sarcasm dripping from his tone.

"No, it's just that once I find the stone I can go home whenever I want and I really miss my family."

"I understand." Anthony said. Taking a healthy swallow from his glass and looking into the fire with discontent.

Sarah regarded him for a bit and realized that they were very much alike. Anthony left his world to save someone he cared about and ended up with the Amazons. The only difference was that he did it knowing that he'd never be able to go home.

She put her arm around him and spoke. "I know you don't really like to talk about the subject, so I'll just say this and go refill my glass: You're a brave guy, Anthony."

And after one last swallow and a quick pat to the back she left him to his thoughts raging in the fire.

Upon refilling her glass she ran into Arsen hoping to do the same thing.

"Go ahead, I've got two glasses." He said.

"Things going well with the cutie pie sadist?" She asked as she filled her cup.

"Actually they are. And I know I like to complain about these Amazons, but one thing they do well is throwing parties. I don't remember the last time I was around so many half naked drunk girls."

"It is a perk involved with having to put up with them." Sarah said, her mood evident in her tone.

"Not that I'm one to care about the feelings of those who've made my life ten times more complicated than it had to be, but I get the impression that you're not so happy right now."

"I'm just a little pathetic right now, nothing new." She said, having trouble with some of her words.

"Well, being that you did come through in saving my life and all, I'd probably listen to what's bothering you till the cutie pie came looking for me and my attention faded away."

She considered confiding in him for a moment, but was interrupted by Rada jumping on her back and attempting to ride her like a bull.

"Wooooo hoooo!" She wailed as Sarah tried to buck her off. "This is the best party ever!"

"Rada!" Sarah grunted. "I was in so much pain this morning I could barely move. Do you really think that jumping on me now is the best idea?"

"Oh fine. Ruin the moment." She said as she dismounted. "So what's going on over here?"

"Sarah's being pathetic and I'm about to go grease the wheels on my chances at getting my back scratched again." Arson explained. "See you hookers later."

"I never should have taught him that word." Sarah said as she rubbed her lower back.

"So what's up, you're acting depressed when you should be celebrating the fact that you saved all these people."

"Believe me, I didn't save them all. They did that themselves."

"Whatever, if it hadn't been for you they'd be fighting monsters they didn't know how to kill and slavers with bigger numbers. You saved them and you should be happy."

"I am happy; I think I'm just kind of tired right now from everything that's happened." She tried to reassure her friend.

"Sure." Rada said, deciding to save the conversation for another time. "You want to go dance with the half naked drunk girls?"

Sarah smiled finally and gave Rada a soft punch to the shoulder.

"Maybe some other time. Right now I'm thoroughly drunk and felling sorry for myself, so I think it's about time to do something stupid. And since drunk dialing is out of the question, I think I'll work on making 'sexual fantasy number four' a reality."

"Huh?" Rada asked.

"I'm going to go try to sleep with the vampire."

Rada snorted. "You've got a party full of impressionable women here that might sleep with you, but that's not good enough. Sarah 'The Immortal Wonder' has to go try to bed the woman who wants to drain her dry of blood."

"Man, there is something so sexy about that." Sarah said whimsically to the sky.

Rada rolled her eyes. "Well good luck. I think I'm gonna be boring and stick to the hot girls who don't feed on my kind."

"We've all got out preferences." She gave her friend a gentle pat the back and started to head out of camp. "Have fun!"

"Yeah you too. I hope you come back with all your body parts." The Slav yelled after her.

Instead of turning to reply Sarah simply rose up a middle finger and continued on her way.

As she made her way through the empty aisles of huts on her way to the gates she took the time to simply embrace her surroundings. The air was so clean and the stars were dim only when compared to the light of the moon so thick she wondered wistfully if she could bathe in it. Her reverie lasted for only a few seconds before she was startled from it by a familiar voice.

"Hey, where are you going?"

It was Eve and though she looked concerned for Sarah, she was practically glowing from the events of the party.

"Just for a walk, you know, to get some fresh air." The time traveler said with as much of a genuine smile as she could rally.

"You know you're a bad liar, Sarah. I'm really not sure why you try anymore." Her look was now concerned, but playful.

The statement was rewarded with a genuine smile.

"I'm going to see Khepri because I feel selfish, alone and misunderstood." As she stumbled she made an addition to her statement. "Not to mention pretty inebriated."

"Sarah, you may very well be selfish sometimes, and misunderstood for the most part, but you are certainly not alone." Her look had dropped its playful edge and was now merely concerned as she stepped closer.

Gabrielle's words started to haunt her.

"I'm sorry for being such a jerk to you Eve. And I'm really sorry for putting you in danger just because I was angry."

"Sarah it's ok." She moved quickly to pull the girl into a hug. "I thought we'd been through this already. I know you never wanted me to get hurt."

As they parted Sarah's eyes remained on the ground.

"Now that you and Varia are together are you planning to set up shop here with the Amazons?"

Eve regarded her quizzically.

"That kind of came out of nowhere. Why do you ask?"

"Just curious."

"Well I do plan to stay put for a while so we can further explore the relationship, but things are so new right now that I don't think I could make any specific plans to stay forever. I do still have a duty to spread Eli's message and if you don't find the stone…"

"I wouldn't count on travelling with me, Eve." Sarah interrupted and Eve's face fell fractionally. "It's just that I'm not the greatest person to be around if you're trying to spread a message of peace. I mean, trouble seems to find me everywhere I go and that trouble often leads to violence of some kind."

"Where is all of this coming from, Sarah?"

"Nowhere particular, I just don't think you should look a gift horse as rare as love in the mouth. Your life doesn't solely belong to your cause and I think you should really think about reprioritizing things."

"Did she say something to you?"

"No, I was just thinking about things is all. You know how alcohol makes the mind wander. I mean, either way it doesn't matter to me."

"It certainly sounds like it does." Eve asserted as she paused for a moment to think. "Are you afraid of what might happen if I betrayed you again? Because I swear, Sarah, the last thing I want to do right now is further damage your trust in me."

"No, no…" She sighed. "I'm just drunk and rambling. Forget I said anything about it."

"I don't think this is the alcohol talking. I think that it's fear." She put her hand on Sarah's arm. "Please tell me what you're feeling."

Sarah looked into concerned blue eyes and wanted so much just to tell Eve about everything Gabrielle had said. But she knew that unburdening herself of that knowledge would only solidify the Messenger's independence.

"I'm feeling horny, you big goof." She lied with a smile as she brushed the hand aside. "And you're being a cock block again. Now, quit being so serious and go back to the party. I'll see you in the morning."

The time traveler started to walk away, but Eve's words caught her yet again.

"You don't always have to deal with things alone Sarah."

She sighed and walked back.

"And you don't always have to save everyone." She said with a small smile and a quick clap to Eve's shoulder. "This conversation is over. Go back to your party and celebrate with the people you love."

Eve's face had fallen completely as she watched Sarah's back move further and further away from her.

"All the people I love won't be there now." She said softly to bright full moon.

Sarah stumbled through the woods as she sipped from a nearly empty wine skin. The moonlit path seemed almost magical.

"You just don't get these feelings from concrete and skyscrapers." She announced to herself.

"What's a skyscraper?"

The voice came from behind a nearby tree and it was recognizable to her from the first word. A smile donned her face as she paused and waited for Khepri to appear.

"A very, very, tall building." She winked. "Hasn't anyone ever told you it's rude to sneak up on people?"

"Hasn't anyone ever told you that talking to yourself about nonsensical buildings is a sign of lunacy?" She moved closer to the girl and smelled the alcohol on her breath. "Furthermore, someone should have told you that it's dangerous to stumble drunk through the woods at night. What are you doing out here?"

"Looking for you, actually."

Khepri sauntered closer to the girl. "While I'm incredibly pleased about that, I am wondering why you felt the need to see me right now."

Sarah thought of a quick witted phrase to reply with, but then dismissed it right before the words could pass through her lips. At that moment, her need to be honest overwhelmed her usual propensity to be a smart ass.

"I needed to feel something."

Khepri was staggered by her answer and she drew closer to softly touch Sarah's cheek with concern.

"What is it you need to feel, Sarah?"

"Free." The word came out so quickly and easily that even its author was surprised by its meaning. "You make me feel like I don't have to be anyone important at all when I'm around you. With you I don't feel like I have to be brave, or strong, or noble. Like I'm not beholden to some ideal that everyone knows I can't live up to. With you I just get to be Sarah."

Khepri was touched by the extremely abrupt revelation. She smiled and brought her other hand to the girls face as she stroked it with her thumbs.

"You must become incredibly blind when you drink, because if you could possibly see yourself through my eyes you would know that 'just being Sarah' includes being brave, strong and noble. You couldn't escape those qualities even if you tried. My hope is that I simply make you feel that they don't make up what draws me to you."

Sarah's breathing increased along with Khepri's proximity.

"You um… You make me feel other things too."

"What would those other feelings consist of?" The vampire asked, half knowing the answer and drew even closer.

"Like it's hard to breathe. Like no one else on the planet exists. Like I've never wanted anyone as much as I want you."

Khepri's smile grew. "Well, luckily we don't have to worry about any problems with your breathing, being that you're immortal, and as far as I'm concerned the existence of anyone else right now doesn't matter at all. As far as the 'wanting' part goes, let me assure you that the feelings are entirely mutual."

She then leaned down to bring their lips together in a deliciously slow kiss. As their mouths met a soft moan elicited from Sarah's throat and Khepri saw no reason to keep things chaste. Her lithe tongue licked hesitantly at first, but once granted permission, dove passionately past the young girl's permissive lips. It was met with equal fervor from her partner and soon the need to bring the rest of their bodies closer became paramount.

Sarah's hands buried themselves in Khepri's dark locks as the vampire's digits abandoned their previous post and took hold of her waist. A low growl emanated from the taller woman's throat as their nearness grew tighter and one of her hands wandered to a leather clad ass cheek. Sarah pulled away briefly to moan into the night. She looked into Khepri's eyes and found a primal need like she'd never experienced staring back at her. Her visceral reaction forced Khepri back against a tree and the vampire gasped in surprise as a warm mouth descended upon her neck and an adept hand pulled her thigh up and around her assailant's hip.

A hearty chuckle emanated from the vampire's throat. "Whoa there, tiger fighter. Do you really think you're up for where you're leading us right now?"

"I'm fairly certain I can take whatever you can dish out." Sarah smiled as she moved to lick at an inviting earlobe.

Before she knew it the tables were turned and it was Khepri's strong frame pinning her to the tree. Her arousal multiplied as her heart beat fast enough to rival the wings of a humming bird.

"I didn't think it was possible, but somehow you just became hotter." The time traveler said with a grin.

"Believe me; I'm feeling nothing but heat right now, but as good as this may feel it's not the way I want it to happen."

Sarah looked into the vampire's eyes and could see the sincerity that they held. The problem was it only served to enflame her passion.

"Do you know how much that statement makes me want you more?" She asked, diving in for another kiss.

Khepri indulged her for a few more moments, but broke away before reaching the point of no return. Though she still held the girl close she separated their lips by joining their foreheads. Both women were breathing hard as Sarah tried to figure out where she went wrong.

"Listen, you're not going to hurt me. I know I'm pretty banged up right now, but there is literally nothing you could do to me that I couldn't recover from… And boy would I like to test that theory."

A whispered laugh escaped Khepri's lips as she gave the girl a quick peck on the lips before retreating.

"As appealing as that proposal sounds I'm not exactly worried about your physical state right now. I'd simply rather our first carnal experience together not happen when you're drunk and beaten to a pulp." She softly stroked the girls face again before continuing. "You're special to me Sarah, and we've both got a lot of time to expand on our special relationship before we take it to the next level."

The time traveler didn't know what to say to this. In a world where she had so few people that cared about her, hearing such a loving statement made her heart swell. In answer she kissed the vampire softly, with no urgency or intensity, and pulled away reluctantly.

"That may be the sweetest rebuke I've ever been privy to." She said with a gentle laugh.

"It's certainly not a rebuke; more like an extension of the state we're in now." Khepri promised. "However, there is something I'd like to ask of you."

"Anything." Sarah interrupted; amazed that she might have even meant it.

"Stay with me tonight. Let me hold you."

The time traveler's head dropped for a moment in reverie of the request.

"This is how you make me feel free."

She hugged the object of her affection close and held her so tightly that it hurt her beaten body.

They walked together, hand in hand, back to the vampire den and just before entering Khepri stopped.

"Go ahead to my room and I'll be inside in a moment. I want to gather some firewood so you won't be cold."

The mere mention of cold suddenly caused a chill to creep up Sarah's drunken spine. With a nod she smiled at Khepri's consideration and entered the cave. As she faltered along the corridors she finally reached the door that she believed led to Khepri's quarters. With a slight nudge it opened and she staggered over to the bed. Falling on to the soft sheets with a thud she let out a sigh of exhaustion. What she didn't expect was the voice that answered her sigh.

"Don't get me wrong, you're quite interesting, but I go for girls with a little less sass."

With a swiftness that hurt nearly every part of her body, Sarah leapt from the bed and tried to assess the situation.

"Well, I must say that's the quickest a woman has ever sprang from my bed; dead or alive."

Sarah tried to get a grasp of her bearings and blushed when she realized that she'd taken the wrong corridor.

"Wow, um… I was looking for Khepri's room. Sorry if I distur…" Her words were cut off as her eyes grazed over a very familiar looking object.

Asteri expelled a perturbed breath of air before speaking. "If you only knew how much you'd disturbed my existence up to this point."

Sarah didn't even hear his angry quip. All she could possibly do was stare at the one object she'd been searching for since it had been destroyed in Japa. That little green stone that had caused all of her problems was anchored securely into Asteri's head board.

The vampire noticed her lack of retort and followed her eyes to their source of attention.

"Can I help you with something or would you rather desist from ogling my bed frame and leave me in peace."

"Where did you get that?" The words came though she had no control over them.

"The bed I got in Thessaly. It's handmade and the craftsman tasted very expensive."

"No, no, the stone in the frame, where did you get it?"

Before Asteri could even expel his answer memories of an ancient Amazonian cave came flooding through Sarah's memories as quickly as the water that nearly drowned her in another life. This was the cave where she'd found the chronostone. This was the very place that changed her entire world.

"…and don't think you can take it just because you've got some strange spell over my sister. That jewel ties the entire room together." Asteri's voice infiltrated her brainwaves.

And then another.

"What's going on in here?"

Sarah finally dragged her eyes away from the one object that could bring her back to the only thing she craved more than Khepri; her world.

"Well little miss ambassador to the Amazon nation just waltzed into my bed chambers like she owned the place, then went all catatonic once she saw my magnificent jewel."

As Khepri tried to assess the situation, Sarah tried to find her voice.

"I umm… I took a wrong turn at Albuquerque." She said with an innocent smile.

Khepri rolled her eyes. "I'm not even going to pretend to know what that meant because obviously it's time to get you to bed. Asteri, I'm sorry we disrupted your sleep."

"Well, whether you're sorry or not, just be sure to keep your girlfriend's dirty mitts off my beautiful bed frame. She's obviously a fan of impeccable decorating."

"I'm sure it won't be a problem." She assured him as she escorted Sarah out of the room.

"What was that all about?" She asked, confused.

"I got lost." Sarah said, devoid of any emotion.

"No, I meant about his bed." Khepri clarified.

"Oh… Um…" She faltered and brought herself back to the reality of the situation. "…I just… like green."

Khepri let out a soft snort. "You're drunk. Let's get you to bed."

As Sarah lay in the arms of the woman who had enraptured her senses only moments before, she contemplated the fact that the one thing she wanted more than her was to go home. And her chances of going home lay only a few feet away in the den of another vampire. Once Khepri had drifted off to sleep she pulled herself from the safety of her arms and stepped outside the cave to smoke one of the cigarettes she'd procured from the Amazons. As the smoke filled her lungs and invaded the night air, she could only imagine the problems that would lie ahead. And only one statement came to mind as a means of validating her situation.

"God… If you exist… You are one sadistic motherfucker."

When she went back inside to the bliss of Khepri's arms, she contemplated all the possibilities of the future and decided that, if nothing else, things were about to get very interesting.

The End

To be continued in Book 3 of the "Living in the Past" series


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